Canadians have, thankfully, denied Harper the dictatorship he was seeking, but only barely. Commentators are already bemoaning the low voter turnout, at 59% pretty much the lowest on record. Various reasons have been run up the flagpole, but I don't think you need look much further than the results. Consider this:
Conservatives 143 seats - 37.6 % of the vote
Liberals 76 seats - 26 % of the vote
BQ 50 seats - 10 % of the vote
NDP 37 seats - 18 % of the vote
Greens 0 seats - 6.8 % of the vote
Independents 2 seats - 0.65 % of the vote
Some low-level arithmetic will illuminate the fact that the number of seats won has no connection with the will of the people (aka - the popular vote). Consider one simple alternative. If there were true proportional representation, this is what the new Parliament would look like (approximate because of rounding issues I didn't want to deal with at 6 am):
Conservatives - 116 seats
Liberals - 81 seats
BQ - 31 seats
NDP - 56 seats
Greens - 21 seats
Independents - 2 seats
What's stunningly obvious is that Canadians DIDN'T ELECT A CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT. The vast majority of Canadians, 51% of them, voted for a left or centre left choice (Liberals, NDP and Greens). There's where Canadian sentiments obviously lie. If you add the BQ to that, the majority would be over 60%. I know that regressive, right-wing dinosaurs out there will belch fire over this, but, other than in Alberta, that's what Canadians are in their souls, like it or not.
(Even in Alberta, proportional representation would have sent only 17 Conservatives to Ottawa along with 2 Greens - oh the horror...).
I pulled the following numbers from a comment on the CBC's website:
Here's a breakdown seats per population (approx)
NFLD: 7 seats. 1 per 72,610 of population
NS: 11 seats. 1 per 85,087
NB: 10 seats. 1 per 75,152
PEI: 4 seats. 1 per 34,852
QUE: 74 seats. 1 per 104,655
ONT: 106 seats. 1 per 121,621
MAN: 14 seats. 1 per 85,449
SASK: 14 seats. 1 per 72,153
ALTA: 28 seats. 1 per 125,441
BC: 36 seats. 1 per 123,009
There are two things that seem broken here. First, the will of Canadians isn't being represented in our House of Commons. Second, the principle of "one person, one vote" isn't even close, and since I live in BC, I'm particularly steamed. Only Alberta fares worse than us.
If politicians are really concerned for the survival of democracy, then it's time they put their self-serving interests aside and fix what's wrong. Oh say, can you see (what it is?).
1 comment:
Well articulated case, Dave. I think a discussion about pr is warranted now more than ever. I haven't been supportive in the past, however I think the Green party has shown that it isn't merely a rebellion vote (a la Rhino) anymore. And to not have any electoral success for the amount of support it received in this election is problematic for our democracy. I don't know how it would work representationally though....? I presently have a particular MP who I should contact about federal matters. Under PR, would I still have a designated MP? How would the pr assign MPs to regions to represent people? (and that's all i've got in my tired brain for now)
Nikki
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