Thank you for the opportunity to offer my views on our current
voting system. I have also commented on what I see as faults in our
present governance.
The First Past The Post system works well in the US where,
basically, only 2 parties are running. In Canada, with as many as 8
or 10 parties in the fray, including independents, the FPTP is an
abysmal failure. Both the STV and MMP options have merits and
shortcomings but both are better than what we have at present. I
did not have sufficient knowledge of these options, at present, so
am reluctant to recommend one over the other. The type of
preferential ballot that I find appealing is rating those running
for office in order of preference, i.e.. I may vote first for a
Liberal - 3 points, secondly for the Green Party - 2 points and
lastly for the NDP - 1
point [Borda count]. The candidate acquiring the most points is
elected. I may not elect my first choice but I will probably get
closer to the representation I seek than the FPTP system.
The governance system we have at present is not much more than a
dictatorship - admittedly, a reasonably benevolent one. Candidates
can make wild promises, - the federal liberals promised in their
Red Book to drop the GST - (and some outright lies like the NDP's
"balanced budget") , and the constituents can do no more than wait
for the next election and hope to toss that candidate out of
office. But, this takes about 4 years during which time enormous
damage can be done, for example, a half billion dollar fiasco known
as the Fastcats. Regardless of the electoral system used, we need a
practical right of recall (for the candidate, not to refight the
last election) and abandonment of the Whip system. MPs and MLAs are
elected by the constituents to present the aspirations of the
majority of those constituents - not blindly follow the goals of
the party leader. MPs and MLAs are our employees and if they don't
do their job, we should have the right to fire them just as any
employer has the right to fire an employee who is not performing
his/her duties.
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