Essay On Canadian Electoral System

Our right to vote is guaranteed in Canada under section 3 of Charter of Rights and freedoms but many people don’t exercise this right. Regardless of our right, Canadian voter turnout in recent years has been disappointing. In past few decades, there has been a gradual decrease in voter turnout in Canada, dropping significantly since 1988. Conversely, in the 2008 federal elections, voter turn out had reaching an all-time low, where, just under, 59 percent of eligible voters actually voted. The low turn out raised questions and concerns whether Canadian democracy and the electoral system are effective. Often, high volume of voter turnout is indicative of a healthy democracy and aids in determining people’s confidence and satisfaction with the
government, parties, and their policies. Moreover, it legitimizes the government’s authority over its citizens. Low voter turn out is, unsurprisingly, an issue.

Public apathy is a major reason for the decline in voting. Canada seem to be faced with a situation where people simply do not care, pay attention, or find politics to be a priority. Non-voters are often classified among those who the lack of political education, inherently, giving political participation a low priority. This can be due to pessimism of the Canadian people. People are very pessimistic about what government does and there is an absence of enthusiasm in people. Recent studies argue that voters felt cynical, disappointed, dissatisfied and there was a sense of disempowerment. People think that government wastes a lot of time and money rather than making right choices for common good. Bureaucrats make its bureaucracy and decisions. They make decisions based on their own interests. Politicians are dishonest, self-centered, unaccountable, lack integrity and accomplish very little.
Dissatisfaction of Political Parties as a result of the Electoral System
Political parties and politicians play a major role in Canadian democracy.
Mainstream political parties such as the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party of Canada have dominated the political scene for many years. [6] Minority political parties such as the New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP), the Bloc Quebecois and the Green Party although attract supporters, it is difficult for these parties to obtain power in the parliament because of the structure of the Canadian electoral system. The electoral system plays a great part towards the dissatisfaction of the political parties by the general public for the reasons that it advantages the main political parties and disadvantages the minority parties from a fair representation. Canada practices the “single member plurality” also known as the “first past the post” electoral system in both federal and provincial elections. [7] This type of an electoral system allows the leader of the political party with the most votes to form a government; [8] thus allows the candidate from a party in a constituency to win even if he or she does not attain 50 percent of the votes. [9] As a result, the “single member plurality” electoral system benefits majority parties such as the Liberal Party of Canada or the Conservative Party of Canada for it creates a “clear-cut choice” for voters to choose from the two focal parties. [10] Consequently, minority parties are overshadowed by mainstream parties therefore deters a percentage of eligible
voters from voting in federal elections as the minority parties that interest them and represent their beliefs become outshined by mainstream political parties.

The youth are often associated with poor knowledge in politics. This is a principal aspect towards the disinterest in federal elections voting. Not only does the lack of knowledge contribute to the decrease voter-turnout in Canadian federal elections, it also plays a great role towards the lack of trust infused by distrust of the political system by the youth. The distrust in the political system by the youth is shaped by the lack of concerns that politicians from different political parties display towards the youth. [15] This as a result coincides with the reason why some youth prefer to not participate in political affairs and elections as any outcomes of voting and partaking in politics will not benefit them. [16 In Canada, the participation of young people in political affairs and voting in the elections has declined significantly. This is partly due to the fact that knowledge has the tendency to affect an individual’s opinion.

Voter turnout is lowest amongst the youth vote.
Moreover, it is known that youth who don’t vote remain uninvolved in the political system, and abstain from voting as they age. One method of increasing voter turnout, therefore, is to encourage and educate the youth on the importance of electoral participation. Provided initiatives are; the possibility is to encourage candidates and political parties to address Canadian youths more directly during election, by addressing youths directly at high schools or university campuses, and by discussing issues that important to youth voters. Another possibility is to encourage youth participation through the use of modern forms of media and communication, which are used to a larger extent by younger Canadians. Better-educated individuals are more inclined to vote and participate. Educational institutions should implement a curriculum that educates the youth of the political system, and teach them how participation in political matters will heighten the democratic system in
Canada.

Canada’s single member plurality system, commonly called First Past the post, tends to produce stable majority governments. However, they also tend to over-reward larger parties with strong regional base of support, while smaller third parties with a national base of support are underrepresented. Electoral reform proponents believe switching to an electoral system that uses some form of proportional representation which in turn will produce a fairer result and help voters feel that their vote matters. Most of the world’s democracies use this system. In Canada, several provincial governments are currently considering switching either to full PR or Mixed Member Proportional, which combines the best features of both PR and the single member plurality system.

Electronic voting removes the logistical problems experienced by voters who can’t make it to the polling station on Election Day, and either don’t know about or are unable to vote in advance polls. Voting by Internet allows voters to cast their ballot without ever leaving home. Moreover, through an online voting service, government and parties can benefit from the option of surveys and regular feedback on a variety of government initiatives. Elections Canada has experimented to use online voting in the 1990’s. Elections Canada has stated that there are both potential benefits and drawbacks to e-voting. Potential to increase the voter turnout rate is perhaps the most exciting benefit. In a 2000 poll, 62 percent of non-voters said they would have been more likely to vote if the Internet voting option had been available. Moreover, it may increase the youth voter turnout rate. Of course, with the Internet comes security concerns. Added precautions must be taken due to; public concerns about Internet security and the possibility that the government or other organizations could find out how they voted would have to be overcome.
Resolving these security concerns would be expensive, and require verify a person’s identity.