Canadians are about to see a big change in the way they vote.
In just a few weeks, an electoral reform committee is preparing a plan for the future of Canadian elections.
The sitting government promised that the last federal campaign would be the final one using the first-past-the-post system.
The committee travelled across Canada this summer to help collect data on what Canadians thought about the current system and what they wanted to see in the future to help put together a plan to change the voting system in Canada.
But the Conservative party doesn’t think the consultations are enough and are calling for a referendum.
“Most people that I spoke with were unaware of the Liberal government’s intention to change Canada’s electoral system,” Michael Cooper, Conservative MP for St. Albert – Edmonton said. “It’s my view that if you are going to change the rules of democracy that Canadians must be consulted.”
Cooper says that the government doesn’t have the mandate to change the system, as it received less than 40 per cent of the popular vote during the election. He hopes to see no changes to the system because he says the system has served Canada well since 1867 and sees no compelling argument to change.
Cooper, along with the rest of the MPs across Canada, is currently collecting feedback from constituents to submit to the committee for consideration before they begin drafting a plan.
The current system is first-past-the-post (FPTP), which grants victory to the candidate in every riding who has the most votes, but does not need an absolute majority. Traditionally federal governments are granted a majority with the popular support of around 39 per cent of Canadians.
This system has seen considerable criticism in recent years because of its encouragement of tactical voting — casting a ballot for the person best positioned to defeat a candidate you dislike, rather than casting a ballot for a candidate you support. This discourages people from voting for smaller parties.
Dr. Julian Castro-Rea, political science professor at the University of Alberta, says “it was about time,” for electoral reform.
“There is a consistent disparity between the way people vote and they way governments are formed,” Castro-Rea said. “Popular choices are not translated in a very automatic way in parliamentary representation. The vote of many Canadians doesn’t even count.”
Currently new trends are emerging across the world when it comes to elections. Many countries are moving away from FPTP and towards a proportional representation or a mixed system. Proportional representation aligns the percentage of seats a party receives with the percentage of votes they receive. Some variation of proportional representation is used in 21 of 28 countries in western Europe, along with 69 other countries across the globe.
Castro-Rea, along with the NDP, think the best system for Canada would be a mixed system, similar to what is used in Mexico and Germany. This system would have two votes. The first would be cast for the candidate running in their riding, the same as the current system, and the second vote would be cast for a party. The number of seats each party is granted in Parliament is proportionate to the number of votes they receive from both ballots.
The Liberal party stands behind the ranked ballot system, which is used in Australia, where candidates are ranked on the voters preference from first to last, rather than just choosing one candidate.
Canadians will have until early October to submit their ideas about electoral reform to their local MPs. By Oct. 14 the special committee will begin to put together a report. On Dec. 1 the committee will report to the House of Commons and by the spring cabinet should introduce legislation to change how Canadians vote.
