It is difficult sometimes to explain why the opinion pollsters are straining themselves in this current Canadian election. If we had proportional voting, it would all be so easy. It is because we use first-past-the-post voting that we are so confused. It is because Canadians actually prefer first-past-the-post that it comes to this.
What needs to be remembered is that under our voting system, we do not have one election. We are having 338 elections to decide who runs the country. Some of the elections are considered a slam-dunk and many are being hotly contested.
Not all the candidates are the same. Not all the voters feel the same way. There are regional differences. There are different candidates. Canadians do not think alike from coast to coast. There are rural voters and urban voters. And did I mention different languages? There are also smart voters and a few dumb voters. There are many age groups and supposed classes of voters. This is why political leaders exhaust themselves fliting around the country, making extravagant promises to all the different types of Canadians.
And sometimes it is not a question of who are the 70 per cent of Canadians who voted but who were the 30 per cent, or so, who did not?
It is all so much simpler under proportional representation. Bear in mind, that method of voting works well where the voters are mostly illiterate. All you have to do is count all the ballots from the election and let each party appoint members of the parliament according to their percentage of the vote. The only problem is that the only person you can vote for is the leader of the party. You might never have a member of parliament who represents you or your area. You probably, never again, have a majority government that can get things done.
I like the way we do it today. Canadians are going to be interested in seeing who wins. Because the only poll that matters is the poll we will be counting on October 21.
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Copyright 2019 © Peter Lowry
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