Canadians answered "Yes" or "No" to prohibiting alcohol, conscripting soldiers, and revamping our constitution. Forcing such crucial choices at the ballot box is high-stakes democracy, both here and overseas - as witnessed with Britain's transformative 2016 "Brexit" referendum. Forcing Choice dissects Canada's extensive use of ballot questions at all levels of government, and weighs the benefits of citizens making fundamental decisions for the nation. Holding referendums is tricky, and getting it wrong carries a high price. This hard-hitting book draws on Boyer's deep research on direct democracy and his experience advising governments about referendums, writing books, drafting and introducing the Canada Referendum Act, monitoring foreign referendums, and campaigning in Canadian ones.
"Patrick Boyer has earned a reputation as one of the most thoughtful members of the House of Commons."
Maclean's
"Mr. Boyer has been carrying on his campaign to modernize our political system at a time when most of his colleagues, their consultants, and large chunks of our academic and media communities, were still imprisoned by the orthodoxies of the old politics."
Professor Michael Bliss, University of Toronto
"Patrick Boyer is Canada's resident expert on referendums and plebiscites."
