The local Sun Media newspaper in Babel is very thin. It has very little advertising and little budget. It therefore welcomes free articles from local writers. Some of these writers are from the political fringe. An example this week was an article by a political hopeful boosting a September conference at Geneva Park near Orillia. Attendees at the conference hope to resurrect the idea of proportional voting in Canada. This idea has been firmly rejected by voters in Ontario and defeated twice by voters in B.C.
The premise the fringe keep harping on is that voters are wasting their votes under the present first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting system used in Canada. Their argument is that if they can win five per cent of the popular vote in an election that they should have five per cent of the seats in the parliament or legislature. In a simplistic way that might make sense to some people.
The problem is that to make proportional voting work, you have to vote for parties rather than people. The reason that voting for parties is common in some parts of the world is because of the low literacy rates in those countries. Parties are identified by symbols and people vote for the symbol of the party they prefer. Under proportional voting, the percentages of the votes are calculated and party members are appointed to the parliament in the ratio of the vote. If the Greens, for example get five per cent of the vote, they are given five per cent of the seats. This includes the party leader and his or her choice of who they want with them. In Canada, we are literate enough that we do not need party symbols. We can vote for the person we prefer to have represent us.
It is that basic. We have more than enough people who will vote for the party leader instead of looking at what the local candidate can contribute. To encourage more of that type of voting will turn parliament and the legislatures into nothing more than sheep pens for the party faithful. If you have ever wondered why it is so difficult for Prime Minister Harper to put together a strong Cabinet, you just have to look at some of the nebbishes who have been sent to Ottawa to support him.
And if you want a good example of the kind of parliament you will have where Members are selected by the Prime Minister of the day, take a look at the Canadian Senate!
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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