Electoral Reform - What's New?

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“As Prime Minister, I’ll make the 2015 election the last under the first-past-the-post system.”

When Justin Trudeau made this promise, we took him for his word. But now, it’s becoming unclear whether Canadians will ever see this promise fulfilled. On December 1, 2016, the Special Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reform (ERRE) released recommendations based on six months of evidence from experts and nationwide public consultations. The committee report was clear: proportional representation was favoured by nearly 90% of witnesses who expressed an opinion.

“Our parliamentary committee has found that the Prime Minister is right. The election in 2015 should be the last election held under first past the post.” Elizabeth May, HOC, Dec 1

It’s no wonder Canadians want proportional representation, when our current winner-take-all voting system continues to waste their votes. If you’re a Conservative in BC, a New Democrat in Saskatchewan, or a Green almost anywhere in Canada, you know what this feels like. In first-past-the-post elections, hundreds of thousands of votes don’t elect anyone. In a democracy, all votes should be counted.

Introducing another winner-take-all method isn’t a viable solution. A ranked ballot system—also known as preferential ballot and alternative vote—is similar to first-past-the-post in that it reinforces power for big parties, while trying to pick just one “winner”.

That’s why we’re recommending a Mixed-Member Proportional electoral system. An MMP system would maintain the critical element of local representation in our current system, and be tailored to Canada's unique geography and demographic needs. In MMP systems, citizens vote for their local representative as well as their preferred party; additional seats are allocated based on their share of the popular vote. It is used by nearly 85% of OECD countries.

So far, the Liberals have either muddled or mocked the committee’s report, including the recommendation to implement a voting system with a Gallagher Index of five or less. Minister of Democratic Reform Maryam Monsef has been especially critical of the mathematical formula, though it’s pretty simple: as long as there’s a direct link between the will of voters and the number of MPs elected, a voting system has a low Gallagher Index. No Canadian voter has to make a calculation using this index, anymore than a motorist has to understand the calculation of blood alcohol levels to take a breathalizer. The Liberal dissent to the committee report hits a low ebb when it asserts the Gallagher index is a voting system. That’s just plain untrue.

While everyone is arguing about, or ridiculing the MyDemocracy.ca survey, almost no one appears to have read the historic report of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reform.

That committee made a series of recommendations unanimously, including the conclusion that Canada is not ready at this time to move to widespread use of online voting, due to security concerns, and that Canadians are not keen on mandatory voting.

Unanimously, the committee agreed that the overwhelming message, from expert testimony and members of the public who spoke in committee hearings, was that people who want change, want proportional representation. Similarly, it was unanimous in the committee's report that the only system worse than first-past-the-post in fairly reflecting how people vote, was alternative vote, also known as preferential or ranked ballot; a variation on our winner-take-all system.

The committee also recommended that the government not consider a PR option based entirely on party lists, without any local link to an MP (such as the system used in Israel).

The committee did its work and the majority (four out of five parties) have recommended that we no longer use first-past-the-post, but move to fair voting under a system of proportional representation.

Ignoring the Electoral Reform committee’s recommendations, the Liberal government is asking Canadians to complete an online survey about electoral reform. While the MyDemocracy.ca survey is deeply flawed, it can still be used to gauge interest in electoral reform.

Complete the survey now: MyDemocracy.ca

Let’s keep PM Trudeau to his promise, and move forward with proportional representation.

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