The decision to not include Elizabeth May of the Green Party of Canada into the nationally televised debates should be of concern to all Canadians...who believe in democracy that is. Democracy has been sold to us as the system that includes every voice, where everyone can participate in shaping our future; where everyone gets an equal opportunity to vote, to be heard, to be considered. These very principles that make democracy our first choice in governance are being eroded to resemble more of a dictatorship. Simply dismissing 1 million Canadian voters is fundamentally undemocratic. In this post I will attempt to give you the knowledge you need to make your own decision.
Democracy Defined – referenced from the Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary
De-moc-ra-cy 1. A form of government in which political powers resides in all the people and is exercised by them directly or is given to elected representatives. 2. A state so governed. 3. The spirit or practice of political, legal, or social equality.
Canada’s System of Democracy
One can argue that Canada is more a Constitutional Monarchy than a democracy, but we will put that aside for now and look into how we vote and the results of our system. First, here are a few quick facts.
Who’s in charge?
Monarch - The Monarchy is hereditary.
Governor General - Appointed by the Prime Minister (acting in the name of the Monarch and not elected).
Prime Minister - Regionally elected leader of the ruling party in the House of Commons.
Cabinet - Appointed by the Prime Minister.
Members of Parliament (MP) – Regionally elected individuals usually affiliated with a party.
Senator – Appointed by the Prime Minister (with the approval of the Governor General)
Supreme Court - 9 justices appointed by the Prime Minister.
Where are all the decisions made?
House of Commons - 308 elected MPs (Members of Parliament are unequally distributed among the provinces and territories).
Senate - 105 Senators (unequally distributed among Provinces and Territories) appointed by the Prime Minister
Our system of voting is what makes us question Canada as a “democracy”. The first past the post system (who ever gets the most votes wins), completely disregards any of the votes garnered by opposing parties or individuals. What’s wrong with that? The person with the most votes should win, right? Well it’s not all that cut and dry – unless of course you are intent on living in a system closer to a dictatorship. Here are a few examples to make things clearer.
The 1997 Federal Election Results
Popular Vote Seats
Progressive Conservative……………35.9% …4,128,500 ………….136 …48.23%
Liberal…………………………….…….40.1% …4,611,500 ………….114 …40.43%
NDP……………………………….……17.9% …2,058,500…………….26 …9.21%
Social Credit…………………….……… 4.6% …529,000……………..…6 …2.13%
The numbers tell the story here. The PCs occupy over 48% of the seats by only winning 36% of the popular vote while the opposition only received 40% of the seats with the highest number of popular votes. Other victims here are the voters of the NDP who garnered 18% of the vote (1/2 of what the PCs received). If the NDP received a proportional amount of seats as the PCs, they would have had 68 seats, but because of our system’s flaws the NDP only ended up with 26 seats.
In the example below, again the ruling C’s receive a whopping 46% of the seats with only 37% of the popular vote. The Bloc win 49 seats with almost ½ the amount of popular vote of the NDP who are robbed with only 37 seats. The Green Party, despite running in virtually all ridings and only 3% less votes than the Bloc receive 0 seats. That’s 1 million voters who will not have their voice represented (remember what the definition of democracy stated – “all the people”, “equality”).
The 2008 Federal Election Results
Popular Vote Seats
Conservative……………..37.6% … 5,208,796…………………………143 ...46.4%
Liberal……………..………26.2% … 3,663,185…………………………..77 ...25%
NDP………………………18.2% … 2,515,561…………..………………..37 ...12%
Bloc Quebecois……………10% … 1,379,991…………..…………………49…15.9%
Green………………………6.8% … 937,613………………………………0 ...0%
What other democracies look like
Canada is one of the youngest democracies but uses the oldest system of voting. Our system as expressed in the above examples is not as fair nor representative as it could be. IF we believe in the fundamental principles of democracy, we should not be frightened of becoming more democratic and change our system as virtually every other modern democracy around the world has. I’m sure at one time or another you heard the expression “Proportional Representation” (PR). This refers to the systems created to make democracies in other countries more representative of ALL the citizens’ values within their country. Although there are many forms of Proportional Representation, I will use our current system of first past the post with an added element of Proportional Representation to make my point.
A more representative Canadian government would look something like this…
(Based on the actual results of the last 2008 election)
Popular Vote Riding Seats PR Seats Total Seats
Conservative……………..37.6%, 5,208,796………71 .................58……….129, 41.9%
Liberal………..……………26.2%, 3,663,185…… .39 ……………40…………79, 23.3%
NDP……………….………18.2%, 2,515,561……..19 ……………28 ……..…47, 15.2%
Bloc Quebecois……………10%, 1,379,991……,,…25………..….15 ……..…40, 12.9%
Green………………………6.8% … 937,613…………0 ……...…..11 …...……11, 3.5%
This how I came up with these Proportional Representation outcomes. We would cut the number of ridings in Canada in half to 154 an add 154 PR seats to total the same 308 seats we currently have. The riding seats would be filled by individuals who win the riding using the first past the post system. The remaining 154 seats would be divided up according to popular vote. Although this system is not perfectly representative of the popular vote, it is much more inclusive and representative than the system we use today.
And that’s it! We could go much deeper then we have in this blog post, but I think you get the point. This is not rocket science, as you can see. So the next time you get the opportunity to speak, write or email a candidate or MP, ask them why we are not improving our democracy with Proportional Representation. The typical answer from the Conservatives and Liberals (who benefit most by keeping the old system) is our system works fine the way it is.
I know this may be a bit confusing, so please ask questions and let’s get the discussion going.
Here is a link to the authorities on voting reform in Canada. Please join, fund, or volunteer if you can. http://www.fairvote.ca/
Glossary
Popular vote – The total number of votes cast in the entire country.
Ridings – The geographical boundary where single seats are determined (we currently have 308 ridings)
Seats – The position held within Parliament by an individual MP.
I don’t necessarily agree with everything found on these reference web sites, but they did have accurate numbers and definitions that I borrowed.
Political Database of the Americas (1999) Canada: 1979 Parliamentary Election Results. [Internet]. Georgetown University and the Organization of American States. In: http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Elecdata/Canada/parl79.html. 2 April 2000.
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