Proportional representation needed to ensure every vote counts

HALIFAX/ROSE BAY, N.S.—As the federal Special Committee on Electoral Reform continues its work, Canadians must ask themselves: does our current system reflect the basic principles of democracy? Power in a democracy, after all, arises from the people. It is transferred to MPs through our votes. If democracy is to have full constitutional meaning in the 21st century, each of these votes must be given equal voice in Parliament. Yet in the last election, a staggering 50 per cent or more of votes transferred no power. Twelve per cent of votes cast were surplus, transferring unneeded power—the winning candidate would have won without them. All these votes transferred no useful power; each represented a voice that was absent or useless on election day. Also unheard were the 32 per cent of Canadians so disillusioned with our democratic system that they didn’t vote at all, transferring no power. All told, majority governments in Canada are routinely based on a useful transfer of power from about 11 per cent of the people. In 2015, it took 1.5 as many votes to elect a Conservative than it took to elect a Liberal, twice as many votes to elect an NDP or Bloc Québécois candidate, and 16 times as many to elect a Green candidate. Some votes matter more than others. Some people have a voice in Parliament, and some don’t. Clearly, our current system does not provide majority rule. Nor does it meaningfully reflect the principle of one person, one vote. If it fails these basic democratic tests, how can it genuinely uphold democracy’s higher values of rule of law, equality before the law, and protection of minorities? How can minorities be protected if they never have a voice in Parliament? How can there be equality before the law when some are barred by the system from helping to write the laws. And how can we expect engagement in the system and respect for the rule of law when up to 80 per cent of the country has no voice in enacting those laws? The villain in our current electoral system, or any winner-take-all system that similar pure alternative-vote system, is the plurality principle, by which a candidate with the most votes in the riding always wins, without exception. It’s winner-take-all and loser-go-home. What are the direct results of this mindset? Wasted votes, surplus votes, false majorities, unstable minorities, strategic voting, safe and swing ridings, party sweeps of provinces, huge policy swings from election to election, the politics of fear, and disengagement. All of these defects of plurality rule are eliminated if each vote has equal voice in Parliament. Equal voice for votes is the face of democracy at the ballot box; the political face of equal voice for votes is proportional representation (PR). Don’t be confused by rhetoric; democracy and PR are inseparable. Anyone limiting PR is limiting democracy by silencing voices in Parliament. Single-member district proportional representation (SMDPR) is a system that amends only plurality rule, and then only as much as necessary to render our current system proportional; ballots, ridings, and the nature and number of MPs do not change. Under SMDPR, parties are allotted seats based on how many votes they get. The most popular candidates in each party are matched to the seats in which they ran, and clashes between matched candidates from different parties in the same riding are resolved by raw vote count. SMDPR ensures highly proportional representation, prevents regionalization of parties and representation, represents minorities and independents appropriately, while preserving local politics and representation. Curing the disease is always better than treating symptoms, or disposing of the patient. The disease is the winner-take-all mentality behind the plurality principle. A cure like SMDPR will produce a minority of plurality losses, an unfamiliar thing in Canada. But it will revive our democracy without changing the nuts and bolts of the system. SMDPR is an evolution of our current system, rather than a complete rejection of what we have achieved in Canada over the last 149 years. It improves democracy as painlessly as possible now, leaves the door wide open to further incremental change in the future, and is a Canadian response to electoral reform. Denis Falvey is a retired ophthalmologist, life-long practitioner of mathematics, author of Canadian Democracy, Eh, and promoter of electoral reform. His daughter, Conor Falvey, is a self-employed writer. The Hill Times

Proportional representation needed to ensure every vote counts

Democracy and PR are inseparable. Anyone limiting PR is limiting democracy by silencing voices in Parliament.

Errors of PR as electoral reform and merits of Canada’s electoral system

Democracy does not mean majority rule

Changing Canada’s electoral system will shift internal, external party politics: Carty

Errors of PR as electoral reform and merits of Canada’s electoral system

Canada needs a modern, national health data architecture

To address online harms, Canada must commit to digital media literacy

A cure for multiple sclerosis could be just around the corner

Renewable energy is the way to go, says letter writer

Supporting local broadcasters is critical for our democracy

From zero-to-expert in 6.6 minutes

Canadians deserve an open, transparent and factual debate on electoral reform

Party list this week’s hot proportional representation myth

Proportional representation ‘absolutely’ necessary for women to achieve higher levels of representation

Canada can learn a thing or two from Scotland on electoral reform

News

Get free news updates

Opinion

Submit a guest opinion article

resources

Advertise

subscribe

get help

Proportional representation needed to ensure every vote counts

Democracy and PR are inseparable. Anyone limiting PR is limiting democracy by silencing voices in Parliament.

Get The Weekend Point of View Newsletter