Canada's Electoral System Should Be Reformed
Given the votes that my MP and his competitors received, and the percentage of votes and seats that the national parties received, Canada’s electoral system is unfair and should be reformed. The electoral system is disproportionate, and with less than 50% of the vote, a given party could easily earn a majority of the seats. In turn, all the other parties are underrepresented. Another reason Canada’s electoral system should be reformed is because votes are seen as being wasted. Lastly, voters are misrepresented in the House of Commons. In the 2011 elections, my MP, Fin Donnelly of the New Democratic Election, won his riding with 49.7% of the votes. Overall the party won one hundred and three seats in the House of Commons. In the first-past-the-post system,
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candidates need only more votes than their opponents to win an election. The votes given to the other candidates do not count towards anything; therefore they are seen as being wasted. The issue is that if one votes for a candidate who does not win, it would not have made a difference if one voted or not. It also allows for candidates to win by a small margin. The winner of an election could receive merely 10% of the votes, as long as his or her competitors receive 9% or less. The first-past-the-post system also has several flaws to it.
Not only does it waste votes, as mentioned above, but it also restricts voter choice. In a federal election, voters are given a choice of Members of Parliaments to vote for. If the majority of MPs elected are from the same party, for example the conservative, than that party comes into power and its leader becomes Prime Minister. This causes an issue if a voter does not agree with the national party and its representative in his or her constituency. This means the voter must choose to vote for the best suited candidate for the constituency, or to vote for a different candidate in order to support the national party. Another flaw to the first-past-the-post system is that voters can be misrepresented in the House of Commons. Population determines electoral districts; therefore, if a province has a larger population, it will have more Members of Parliament. Half of those sitting in the House of Commons will be from Quebec and Ontario, which house more than half of Canada’s population. This means that the House of Commons will have a very Eastern focus, and act in its best interest. British Columbia and the Prairie Provinces are very
underrepresented.
candidates need only more votes than their opponents to win an election. The votes given to the other candidates do not count towards anything; therefore they are seen as being wasted. The issue is that if one votes for a candidate who does not win, it would not have made a difference if one voted or not. It also allows for candidates to win by a small margin. The winner of an election could receive merely 10% of the votes, as long as his or her competitors receive 9% or less. The first-past-the-post system also has several flaws to it.
Not only does it waste votes, as mentioned above, but it also restricts voter choice. In a federal election, voters are given a choice of Members of Parliaments to vote for. If the majority of MPs elected are from the same party, for example the conservative, than that party comes into power and its leader becomes Prime Minister. This causes an issue if a voter does not agree with the national party and its representative in his or her constituency. This means the voter must choose to vote for the best suited candidate for the constituency, or to vote for a different candidate in order to support the national party. Another flaw to the first-past-the-post system is that voters can be misrepresented in the House of Commons. Population determines electoral districts; therefore, if a province has a larger population, it will have more Members of Parliament. Half of those sitting in the House of Commons will be from Quebec and Ontario, which house more than half of Canada’s population. This means that the House of Commons will have a very Eastern focus, and act in its best interest. British Columbia and the Prairie Provinces are very
underrepresented.