We like to look to our American neighbors t to the south and see all the flaws in their electoral system, but the sad truth is that Canada’s electoral system fails to accurately represent the will of the people. An EKOS (a research company specializing in social and economic research) poll found that a whopping 76% of Canadians support electoral reform in Canada. In the latest Canadian federal election in 2021, there were several examples of the flaws in the Canadian electoral system. 

People’s Party of Canada (PPC):

• 4.94% of the popular vote
• 0 seats 

Green Party of Canada:

• 2.33% of the popular vote
• 2 seats

Despite the PPC receiving more than double the votes than the Green Party, the PPC received no seats in Parliament and the Green Party received 2 seats in Parliament.

 
New Democratic Party (NDP): 

• 17.82% of the popular vote
• 25 seats 

Bloc Québécois:

• 7.64% of the popular vote
• 32 seats

Despite the NDP receiving 10% more votes than the Bloc Québécois, the Bloc Québécois got seven more seats than the NDP. This an example of how the Canadian electoral system favors political parties with concentrated support, like the Bloc Québécois, as opposed to parties with support spread across the country, like the NDP.

Conservative Party of Canada (CPC):

• 33.74% (5,747,410 votes)
• 119 seats

Liberal Party of Canada (LPC): 

• 32.62% (5,556,629 votes)
• 160 seats 

Despite the Conservative Party receiving almost 200,000 more votes than the Liberal Party, the Liberal Party got 41 more seats than the Conservative Party. Also, the Prime Minister of Canada is Justin Trudeau, who is the leader of the Liberal party, despite the Conservative Party getting more votes than the Liberal Party. 

The solution to this problem is to reform our current electoral system. Currently, in Canada, we use a system called the ­single-member plurality system known widely as the first-past-the-post model. This means that in Canada, instead of having one big election, we have 338 smaller elections in 338 parts of the country known as ridings. To win in a riding, the party needs to have more votes than any other party there. To become leader of Canada, the party would need more seats than any other party. There are many free and fair democratic countries all around the world who use different, fairer, and more representative electoral systems. 

Many countries, such as Norway, Spain, Brazil, and South Africa, they use a system called party-list proportional representation. In this system, 30% of the votes equals 30% of the seats. In this system, the country is divided into large regions that elect a certain number of representatives based off their population. There are two ways to conduct elections using this system. Using the “closed list,” there is a list of parties on the ballot. Using the “open list,” the ballot has a list of candidates from each party for each area. On election day, each vote for a candidate counts as a vote for their party. For example, if Party 1 has the number of votes equivalent to 4 seats, the 4 most popular candidates in that area elected that area. 

In Germany and New Zealand, they use a system called mixed-member proportional representation. This system is a combination of the current system in Canada and proportional representation. During an election, people get two votes, one for a party representative in their riding, and one for a candidate in their area. The riding MP is elected if they get the most votes in the riding (area that elects a single representative). The regional representatives are elected using a party-list proportional representation system. The total number of seats that a party has is the sum of the seats received using the riding system and the seats received using the proportional system. For example, if Party 1 gets picked in 10 ridings and receives 4 seats in all the areas, they receive 14 seats nationally. 

You may now be wondering, “So why haven’t we reformed our electoral system in Canada yet if it is so flawed?” In 2015, Justin Trudeau promised that he would reform Canada’s electoral system if he were chosen as Prime Minister. When he was elected his government created The Special Committee on Electoral Reform in spring 2016. This committee found that Canada should replace the current the ­single-member plurality system known widely as the first-past-the-post model with a proportional representation system. They also recommended that this decision should be decided by the Canadian people with a referendum. A new system could have hurt the Liberals chance at reelection, so they rapidly backtracked and kept the old system. Selfishness is the reason that our electoral system was never reformed.