sa国际传媒鈥檚 voting system is not perfect, but we should be careful not to replace it with something worse. And if major changes are to be made, they should be approved by the electorate through a referendum.
Dissatisfaction with our current first-past-the-post system is understandable 鈥� a party can form a majority government without winning a majority of the popular vote.
It rankled many that former prime minister Stephen Harper鈥檚 Conservatives won only 39.62 per cent of the popular vote in the 2011 election, yet captured 54 per cent of the seats in Parliament. And so they booted out his government in the 2015 election 鈥� in which Justin Trudeau鈥檚 Liberals won 39.5 per cent of the popular vote and took 54 per cent of the seats.
The Liberals tapped into the dissatisfaction by making electoral reform part of their 2015 election platform: 鈥淎s part of a national engagement process, we will ensure that electoral-reform measures 鈥� such as ranked ballots, proportional representation, mandatory voting and online voting 鈥� are fully and fairly studied and considered.鈥�
So far, so good. It is healthy 鈥� even necessary 鈥� for a democracy to scrutinize and question its components.
The Liberals promised an all-party committee would carry out the electoral review and bring recommendations to Parliament. That process is underway 鈥� the committee was in Victoria this week to hear people鈥檚 concerns and suggestions.
Here鈥檚 where the Liberal platform begins to be troubling: 鈥淲e are committed to ensuring that 2015 will be the last federal election conducted under the first-past-the-post voting system. 鈥� Within 18 months of forming government, we will introduce legislation to enact electoral reform.鈥�
That carries the assumption that something better will be found, and that the new system will be to the liking of a majority of Canadians.
Various methods have been proposed to replace the current system. Most of them are cumbersome and complicated.
British Columbians have pondered this issue. In 2004, the Citizens鈥� Assembly on Electoral Reform recommended sa国际传媒 adopt the single transferable vote system, aimed at achieving proportional representation through ranked voting in multi-seat ridings.
The recommendation was put to sa国际传媒 voters in the 2005 election, and 57.7 per cent voted in favour, below the 60 per cent threshold legislated by the government. In a second referendum in 2009, 60.9 per cent voted against changing the system.
Ontario went through a similar process in 2007, asking voters if they wanted mixed-member proportional representation 鈥� 63.1 per cent voted to keep the current system.
Those results might make electoral-reform proponents nervous, but it is essential that such a fundamental change be approved by the people.
The chief criticism of the current system applies here 鈥� a majority government does not necessarily speak for a majority of the people.
Marc Mayrand, who will retire this year after 10 years as sa国际传媒鈥檚 chief electoral officer, offers some wise counsel. If change is to be made, he says, it should be approved by 75 per cent of the MPs or a majority vote in a national referendum.
鈥淚 believe that a single party, whatever the majority of that party is, should not be entitled to change the act unilaterally,鈥� he said.
Under the current system, someone is always saying: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not fair,鈥� but as any parent knows, that can often be translated as: 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 get what I want.鈥�
Our electoral system has its flaws, and we should never stop trying to make it better. But if we change it, it should be for something better, not something merely different, and we should all have a say in that change.
