At the Halloween convention of the Conservative Party in Calgary, there was often more of interest behind the scenes than at the microphones. One of the most unusual pieces of Conservative literature noted was an attack on proportional representation. It made the unusual claim that “Our country was founded on the equality of ridings first and foremost.”
It must have started when a conservative—who could count—realized that the party would not have a majority government under proportional representation. That revelation alone must have been frightening. The reality is that in the 2011 federal election, the Conservatives won only 41 per cent of the vote. Under proportional representation, they could only have formed a minority government.
It was our first-past-the-post electoral system that gave the Conservatives the majority. And that is why this strange piece of literature exhorts Conservatives to say ‘No’ to proportional representation. While there are many reasons why Canadians continue to reject proportional representation, this Conservative piece adds an entirely new perspective by saying Canada was founded on the principle of equality of ridings.
If that were true, this country would be unworkable today. While there was some awkward rigging by our Fathers of Confederation of the one-man, one-vote principle to accommodate the language factor in Quebec and the size of Prince Edward Island, Canadians have made a continuing effort over the years to try to balance out most of the electoral districts.
The current redistribution, to be enacted shortly, will add 30 electoral districts where needed in Ontario and the West. It will not be a perfect equality among voters but it will be close enough until Canadians can agree on a Constitutional Conference to bring our country into the present day.
The archives of Babel-on-the-Bay are always available if you need more arguments against proportional representation. The Democracy Papers were written for the ‘No’ side of the Ontario Referendum on Proportional Voting in 2007. They remain the most accessed reference on why Canadians do not want proportional representation.
Babel-on-the-Bay will continue its research on voting systems and when we find a better solution than first-past-the-post, we will pass it along. Our best hope in this regard is the ease today of controlling internet voting. This can potentially allow for run-off elections in electoral districts that do not get a majority decision.
We remain convinced that proportional voting or preferential voting produces mediocre governments. There are examples of that all over the world.
-30-
Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]