Tag: Fair Voting

Measuring stable governments

How do we measure stable governments?

As the Star has long argued, the current system, which awards each riding to the candidate who wins the most votes, delivers strong, stable government that works.

(People’s verdict on voting reform)

Does Ontario’s First Past The Post system ensure strong, stable government? That likely depends on how you define “government”. The Star is clearly talking about the time between elections. However, members of Fair Vote Canada define it as over time. Yes, the last three governments, the NDP, the Progressive Conservative Party, and the Liberal Party, all had “strong” and “stable” governments. The the Ontario government between the NDP and PC government was an extreme shift in priorities and funding. Again for the PC and Liberal change.

Our all or nothing system allows massively unstable changes in the government from one election to another. Mean while, actual public opinion changes less often than the election outcomes tend to make it look. Some form of proportional representation would actually make the government more stable over time.

Of course, what anti-MMP people mean is that elections happen more often. For example, in Germany which uses a form of Mixed Member Proportional, they have had the exact same number of election that we have had. So, then, does that mean our system is as unstable as MMP?

Barrie is 60% Loser

The mighty Citizen of Barrie got their wish: They are losers.

The 2007 Ontario Provincial Elections are over and away, and looking over the preliminary election results I noticed something interesting. About 60% of the votes in this election were wasted. (57.8%, to be exact.) That is, all the votes for the Progressive Conservative Party, the NDP, the Green Party, the Family Coalition Party, the Libertarian Party, and the two independents.

I also noticed that about 60% of Barrie voters want to keep the current voting system that wastes your vote. (Exactly 61.6%.) So over all, I guess the citizen of Barrie got what they wanted (or deserve). One wonders if it’s the same 60% that had their vote wasted that voted for the wasting-my-vote system of electing our government.

(In this election, anyone in Barrie who didn’t vote Liberal had their vote wasted. In the last 3 elections straight, anyone who didn’t vote Conservative had their vote wasted.)

PR in the news

I was reading the Globe and Mail’s article announcing that the New Brunswick primer is going to work toward having a referendum on proportional representation. Good news, that. But then I found this in the article:

Other provinces are presently at various stages of electoral reform, with British Columbia and Prince Edward Island having voted to reject versions of proportional representation.

This is actually untrue. In BC most people voted for it, but just because a majority voted for the system, doesn’t mean to the BC government that they should get it. They needed to get over 60% (what some call a “super majority”) to pass. Also, in BC they will be having a second referendum in 2009.

The people not getting what they vote for. This seems to be a recurring theme.

What is Proportional Representation?

I’ve gone off on a few rants about why Proportional Representation will fix all our problems, do our laundry, and even clean our windows. I’m not sure if it will make you breakfast in bed, however. In fact, it probably won’t. I’ll go on the record to say that. But, what is it?

We use a system called “first past the post”, aka winner takes all. It works like this. Canada is divided up in to over 300 “ridings”. Each riding is over 100 000 people big. So large cities like Calgary have several ridings in them, whereas small communities have several villages and townships in one riding. If your city has around 100 000 people in it, it’s likely it’s own riding, defined by the city limits.

In each riding you have at least 4 candidates (5 in most of Quebec): The Liberals, the Conservatives, the NDP, and the Green party (as well as the Bloc Quebecois in Quebec), and sometimes you may have an independent running (someone without any party affiliation). Lets make up an imaginary city called Votica. During a general election the citizens of Votica go down to the polls and vote. (Well, only about 60-70% of eligible voters.) Here’s the important part: Which ever candidate gets the most votes wins, and it doesn’t matter how many votes they get.

For example

Let’s say there is a party called the Omnia Vincit Party, or the OVP for short. They would win in this riding if they got a clear majority, like this:

OVP: 60%
Liberal: 12%
Conservative: 11%
NDP: 19%
Green: 8%

So the OVP wins the riding, and gets that vote. And the 40% of people who voted someone else get no say. Some could argue that the majority should rule, so this is okay. But this is not the only way elections come out. In my riding less than 50 percent of the people voted for the candidate that one. It was more like this:

OVP: 45%
Conservative: 40%
Liberal: 4%
NDP: 5%
Green: 6%

So, most of my city, or, in this case, the mythical city of Votica, did not vote for the candidate that won. Most do not want what this candidates stood for, but this candidates gets sent to Ottawa to speak for that city. This is something that is actually quote common. One last example:

OVP: 30%
NDP: 25%
Conservative: 20%
Liberal: 15%
Green: 10%

In this case, too, the OVP get all the say from that riding. A full vote in the Canadian Parliament. But only 30% of the community backed that candidate. 70% of the votes were wasted.

In fact, votes were wasted in each example. In the first example, 40% of the citizens lack actual representation. In the second example, 55% of the vote is wasted. And 70% is wasted in the last example. This happens across Canada. It also happens in the other 2 countries that don’t use proportional representation in their democracies. Yes, you read that right. Canada, the US, and the UK are the only 3 democracies in the world using this asinine system that is centuries old.

Everyone else has moved it. It’s time we joined them.

So, what is it?

Proportional representation means just that: every vote counts because you look at the over all percentage, and assign seats based on that. You are not left with parties getting more power than they should have. The Liberals ruled Canada during the 1990s with most of the power of Parliament. But they did have the confidence of most Canadians. In fact, typicaly only 40% of voters voted for the Liberals, but the liberals won a clear majority of the ridings. This is why I want another system. A better system. There are several ways to fix this.

  • You can take votes for parties, and assign the seats (or voting power) in the Parliament by percentage. This would be a radically different system than we have now. This means that if the Green Party got 5 percent of the vote, they will be assigned 5 percent of the seats in the Parliament. The people who sit in those seats would be selected by the party, typically before the election, and the list would be published ahead of time.
  • Or, you could vote the same way we do now, but add seats to fix the discrepancy. Consider the NDP. In the 2004 election the NDP got 15.7% of the vote, but only got 6.2% of the seats in Parliament. So we “add” seats to the NDP to give them the “proper” number of seats. This way, if you voted for the NDP, but didn’t elect your local candidate, your vote still gets counted, and the party can use that vote to put an unelected local candidates in Parliament to speak for those votes that would be wasted in our current system.
  • Last is the mixed system. In this one you cast two votes. One for a local candidate, and one for a party. This way, you can vote for whatever party you think has the best stance on the issues, but also elect a local representative to speak for your local concerns.If you want, they can both be from the same party. So you could vote twice for the party you like. Or, you can vote for your party, but if the local candidate is not so hot, you can vote for someone else all together. Lastly, you can vote for the party you like, and against the candidate you don’t like. Using this system you have a bigger mix of options that you can employ. Parliament will be divided in half. The first half will be local candidates elected the old fashion way, and the second half will be seats filled by the party based on their votes in the popular election.

Different systems, but the out come is the same: less votes wasted. You never waste your entire vote.

Sources

A Call for Proportional Representation

In 2004, a half million Canadians voted for the Green Party of Canada, but not one Green MP was elected. In the same election, half a million people in Atlantic Canada voted for the Liberal Party of Canada, and elected 22 Liberal MPs. This is made possible because in Canada we use the “First Past The Post” voting system.

In 1984 the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada got 50% of the votes of Canadians, yet had 75% of the members of Parliament. They got a lot more power than Canadians actually wanted to give them. In 1993 the Liberal Party of Canada got 42% of the vote, yet still formed a majority government, giving them more power than Canadians wanted to give them.

Alberta is well known as a Conservative strong hold. In the 2006 Federal Election 100% of the MPs representing Albertans were Conservatives. But how many Albertans do they really represent? Only 64%. 12% of the people from Alberta voted Liberal, and elected no one. 11% voted for the NDP and 6% for other candidates, and again elected no one. In all, 2 million votes were “wasted”.

Our current system exaggerates political differences in certain areas. It gives too much power to people who shouldn’t have it. In 1993 Jean Chretien got 42% of the vote, but got 60% of the control of Parliament, and 100% of the power. No matter what party, if any, you perfer, they have been under represented in many areas, and in most elections.

Proportional representation means your vote is NEVER wasted, no matter who you vote for, or where you are voting from (some restrictions apply, see inside for details). If you live in Alberta and vote anything but Conservative, your vote is “wasted”. If you live in Toronto, and you vote anything but Liberal or NDP, your vote is “wasted”. You will not elect anyone. If you live in Canada and vote for the Green Party of Canada, your vote is “wasted”. By introducing proportional representation, you can vote for who you want, and actually elect someone. You can have responsive government. You get more choice.

Sources