Dear Editor,
It’s been a year since the longest federal election campaign in modern Canadian history, and many campaign promises are slowly taking shape.
One of the most exciting changes that will come about is the electoral reform that three different parties campaigned on. The Liberals, New Democrats and Greens all agreed in the 2015 campaign that the existing first-past-the-post, winner-take-all system is outdated and that we need to change the system so that all Canadians feel like their vote matters and that their voice can be heard.
The Green Party of Canada has accurately pointed out that our electoral system unfairly punishes Conservative voters in cities, Liberal and NDP voters in the West, and Green voters throughout Canada. The problem with our current system, as has been pointed out numerous times before, is that it does not accurately reflect the views and opinions of the electorate. In the last two elections, the party with the majority of the seats in the House of Commons has had 100 per cent of the power. Only problem with this is, haven’t had 100 per cent of the seats, and they’ve had an even smaller percentage of the popular vote.
The way it has been going in Canada is something like this “40 per cent vote = 60 per cent seats = 100 per cent power.” We need a system that more accurately represents our diverse views; it is our diversity that is a source of our strength. We need to figure out a way to encourage getting our diverse views represented in our democracy. This will benefit our democracy by reducing the need to “vote strategically” and will reduce voter apathy, increasing participatory democracy.
There are those who have been calling for a referendum. We had a referendum on electoral reform last year, when over 60 per cent of Canadians voted for a candidate or party who campaigned on electoral reform. The people of Canada have already spoken, and we agree, first-past-the-post negatively impacts approximately two-thirds of voters. In fact, the Liberals could implement any system they like; they do have a majority government, after all. However, they chose to implement a system of proportional representation to form a committee to discuss all the possible options, including members from each party (in the same approximate distribution as the seats in the House of Commons), to see what the pros and cons of these systems would be for us. This is the exact outcome we hope to get from the committee itself!
While there are a lot of different ideas and systems that we could use to replace what we currently have, I feel that a system of proportional representation is what would be in the best interest of all citizens. A well-balanced approach to government, with voices and views that represent every Canadian, will help ensure our democracy can flourish in the 21st century and beyond. The more we can get people engaged, the healthier our democracy will be.
Times change. Systems change. Progress is inevitable. It’s time we throw our support behind electoral reform, and I strongly encourage writing to your MP or the committee on electoral reform showing your support for proportional representation.
Kyle Routledge, by email
