The need to turn political and public attention to voting system reform has never been more urgent. In the 2000 Federal election, 39 per cent of registered voters, or 8.25 million Canadians, did not participate.[1] While many Western democracies have experienced declining voter turnout in recent years, Canada’s participation level is abysmal. Canada ranks seventy-seventh in voter turnout among all democracies.[2]
The continuing decline of voter turnout, which fell to an all-time low in the last federal election, should be reason enough to begin an unprecedented civic engagement process to revitalize Canadian democracy. Other related problems add to the urgency. Surveys indicate Canadians have lost faith in many of the institutions that are central to representative democracy. While Canadians continue to maintain faith in our democratic ethos or ideology, “satisfaction drops markedly when Canadians are asked about government and politics.”[3]
For example, in 1974, 49 per cent of Canadians expressed confidence in the House of Commons.[4] In 2001, only 24 per cent expressed confidence[5]. In 1979, 30 per cent expressed confidence in our political parties. In 2001, only 13 per cent expressed confidence.[6]
The first-past-the-post voting system, which is used by only four major democracies (U.S., U.K., India and Canada), has drawn criticism from many quarters. While the system does tend to produce single party majority governments, it often does so by distorting the will of the electorate. The most popular party and geographically concentrated parties usually gain a disproportionately high number of seats. Other parties usually receive a disproportionately low number of seats or no representation at all. Critics also note that votes are not treated equally and many votes are wasted. In Canada, the system has exacerbated regional differences and produced a Parliament with poor representation of women and visible minorities. Perhaps because of these problems, countries using first-past-the-post voting systems tend to have low voter turn-out compared to countries using proportional voting systems.
1.1 Pivotal Role of the Voting System Voting is the most widely shared democratic participation activity in our society. If the voting system is not functioning in a manner to encourage, reward and sustain the participation of citizens, then the quality of democracy itself is compromised. As the authors of a recent study on Canadian voter participation noted, “a democracy without willing voters is a sham.”[7] A political community or society “can only cohere if its citizens are willing to embrace its ideals and participate in its public institutions. Without vibrant citizen participation in politics, a political community is an empty shell.”[8]
The voting system is the heart of representative democracy. It is the instrument used by citizens in a democracy to form government in their own image. A healthy democratic voting system will provide a means for the political will of the electorate to be mirrored in parliaments and other legislative bodies.
The voting system also drives the nature of politics by defining the playing field on which political parties compete. Political parties are associations formed by groups of citizens to advance their interests through the formation of government or by challenging those parties who have formed government. Parties can only meet their primary objectives by winning elections, so their policies, practices and programs will be shaped by the voting system.
While many elements of Canada’s democratic system are in need of review and reform (the Senate, Parliamentary process, campaign finance, etc.), none are more fundamental than the voting system itself.
1.2 Electoral Reform Emerging as a Political Issue Within the past year, a number of seemingly spontaneous and generally unrelated developments indicate that the need for electoral reform is gaining increasing attention.
One of the most significant developments is the recent emergence of the issue in four provinces. British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell was a victim of first-past-the-post voting system distortions, when his party won the popular vote in British Columbia in 1996, but watched the NDP gain the majority of seats. When campaigning for the 2001 provincial elections, Campbell pledged to convene a citizens’ assembly on electoral reform and take any recommendations from that body to a binding referendum. That commitment was recently reaffirmed by the attorney general, who said the government’s intention was to begin this process in 2002.[9]
Not content to await this process, the B.C. Green Party launched a citizens’ initiative to gain the necessary signatures to force a referendum on proportional representation. While the B.C. initiative legislation makes it nearly impossible for citizens to initiate a referendum, the campaign has attracted great attention in British Columbia, where the opposition, supported by 43 per cent of the voters, has only two seats in a 75 seat legislative body.
In Prince Edward Island, voters have seen the opposition reduced to only one or two seats, despite winning substantial voter support, in three of the last four provincial elections. This spring, at the request of the legislative assembly, the Chief Elections Officer of PEI tabled a report on proportional representation. In response to media questions, Premier Pat Binns stated that islanders could have a referendum on a new voting system as soon as the next election if there was enough interest.
The three parties holding seats in the Quebec national assembly all have positions supporting voting system reform and proportional representation. While the issue has been dormant for many years, the current government, which holds a majority of seats despite coming in second in the popular vote, has initiated several electoral reform programs. A government initiated public consultation is underway, seeking feedback on a number of democratic reform issues, including voting system reform. This summer, a MNAs’ commission also began work on voting system reform.
In Ontario, while the current government has made no initiative, the two opposition parties have raised the issue. Ontario Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty has promised a referendum on a new voting system if his party forms the next government. The Ontario NDP has also taken a position in favour of proportional representation and allowing voters to choose a new system by referendum.
1.3 Civic Institutions Beginning to Engage Provincial governments and political parties are not the only institutions with a newfound interest in voting system reform. In the past year, most of Canada’s leading think tanks have begun addressing the issue. Papers and articles have been published or major conferences or forums convened on this topic by the Institute for Research on Public Policy, Fraser Institute, Centre for Research and Information on Canada, C.D. Howe Institute, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Canada West Foundation and the Parkland Institute.
While many individual Canadians have not yet associated their frustration with “politics” with the characteristics of the voting system, a growing and diverse list of NGOs have been debating and staking out positions on electoral reform. Major national interest groups such as the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the Canadian Labour Congress have strong positions calling for voting system reform and more proportionality. The national association of University Women’s Clubs has recently debated proportional representation. The National Association for Women and the Law has undertaken a major study on proportional representation and the newly formed Equal Voice, an advocacy group pushing for more women in politics, has endorsed voting system reform. Likewise, a number of major national unions have endorsed proportional representation, as well as the church-oriented Citizens for Public Justice and the advocacy group Centre for Social Justice.
Five years ago, a group of BC citizens organized Fair Voting BC, to press for provincial voting system reform. In just the past two years, three more groups have formed: Fair Vote Canada, a national multi-partisan citizens’ group for voting reform; Every Vote Counts, a PEI citizens’ group, calling for proportional representation in PEI; and Mouvement pour une democratie nouvelle, a citizens’ coalition in Quebec, which has attracted widespread support from leading political figures in Quebec. This fall, a Fair Vote Ontario campaign will be launched.
1.4 Democratic Renewal in the 21st Century Robert Dahl, a leading academic authority on democracy, recently wrote about the future of democratic values in the 21st century.
What lies ahead? As we saw, the twentieth century, which at times appeared to many contemporaries likely to turn into a dark and tragic period for democracy, proved instead to be an era of unparalleled triumph. Although we might find comfort in believing that the twenty-first century will be as kind to democracy as the twentieth, the historical record tells us that democracy has been rare to human experience. Is it destined once again to be replaced by non-democratic systems, perhaps appearing in some twenty-first century version of Guardianship by political and bureaucratic elites?[10]
Dahl believes that the established democracies have a particularly important role to play in protecting the practice of democracy in the 21st century. He believes that long-time democracies, such as Canada, must reform and revitalize their democratic institutions, practices and processes, many of which are rooted in bygone eras.
Dahl and others have pointed to civic education and citizen engagement as the lynchpin in democratic revitalization. Developing increased civic capacity to engage in the political process is “one of the imperative needs of democratic countries.”[11] By engaging in the process, citizens can help build and reinforce a politics of hope, trust, cooperation and citizen empowerment.
In summary, it is not only a matter of building better democratic institutions, such as voting systems, but engaging citizens themselves in the process. The process itself is part of the solution.
Printable Version
Email This Page
