this election is a perfect example of why we need electoral reform

Last federal election I was having difficulty deciding who to vote for. I live in the Vancouver Centre riding so my dilemma in 2006 was whether to vote for a ring thief who was running with the party I wanted to support, or vote for a woman who I have little respect for but who has always been a strong supporter of progressive politics. In the end I decided that I would vote for the party that supported the issue most important to me. That issue was electoral reform. I think that our electoral system does not represent voters very well. It is rare in any riding for one candidate to receive 50% of the votes cast. When a party is able to win a majority government with around 39% of the vote I think there is something wrong with the system. The majority really should go to the 61% who did not vote for the governing party.

Electoral reform rarely if ever gets talked about during election campaigns. It is an issue that most citizens do not care about and few understand very well. I think that it is pretty easy to convince people that there is something wrong with our system by pointing out to them that the vast majority of votes are not cast for the winner, yet the winner governs as if everyone fully supported them. The first past the post system is designed to create majority governments. Perhaps that is a good thing, overall I would say that Canada has had pretty good government for its history, at least when compared with the rest of the world. I think that pretty good is not good enough anymore though. I think that it makes sense to require government to be made up of at least 50% of the voters in this country. I think that the nearly limitless power of a majority government should be reserved for those rare situations where one party so resonates with voters that they are able to capture 50% plus of the vote.

I know that electoral reform will not get discussed much during the campaign, and it will likely not get discussed much afterwards either, but I still think that it is important. Is it really that strange or radical to ask that the make up of the House of Commons actually reflect the intentions of voters?

Stephen Harper may end up winning a majority government on October 14th, and if he does he is not likely to win more than 40% of the vote, yet he will govern as if he won 100% of the vote. Electoral reform made little sense to the Liberals when the right was fractured and they could easily win elections with 38-40% of the vote. But now with a fractured left it is the Conservatives who stand to win repeated elections without having to convince more than 4 of 10 voters that they are the right option to lead the country.