[To view the submission in its original format, see the linked
document below]
A Proposition to the Citizens’ Assembly on
Electoral Reform
In summary:
-
Party politics dominate, often making individual MLAs
irrelevant
-
Voters feel disenfranchised when 60+% of the ballots cast are
thrown away as being part of the losers in the election.
Recommendations:
-
50 seats allocated as
‘first-past-the-post’ ridings.
-
Include a ‘None of the Above’ option in
the ridings.
-
29 seats allocated proportionately by a second, party-only
ballot, with a 5% minimum of the votes cast to be included in the
seat allocation process.
A Proposition to the Citizens’ Assembly on
Electoral Reform
Introduction:
Our current electoral system has both strengths and
weaknesses. By combining the legislative and executive
functions of the British Parliamentary system into a single unit,
we are sure to get things done. Taken to the extreme,
this strength can also be a weakness – rampant power
rolling over any opposition, like a boulder going
downhill. The only way to combat this is to have an
effective legislature, which requires an effective opposition as
well as a dedicated government.
From the voter’s point of view, party politics and
control in the legislature make for a government and
representatives that are distanced from the electorate.
It appears, again from the voter’s point of view, that
the entire government is controlled by a small group of people, or
perhaps just one person. It would not surprise me if
some people feel we should just go ahead and elect a dictator for a
four-year period – there would be no effective
difference.
Whatever change is brought to the system, it must be designed to
carry on the virtues of what we have, and supplement these with a
process that eliminates, or at least minimizes, the vices.
The Virtues:
Having a riding system means that voters know who is their
MLA. There is a connection available to the voters when
needed. The lack of a local MLA, someone from your own
community, is a real detriment to any purely proportionate
electoral system.
A party system allows interested people with common views and
values to work actively to form a government, to present these
views to the public, and to put them into practice.
The Vices:
Party control exists too tightly within the
Legislature. It appears to the public that MLAs are not
permitted to voice their constituent’s concerns if they
happen to differ from current government policy. In
addition, good ideas, if brought forward by private members of the
opposition party, are never implemented.
With the ‘First Past The Post’ system,
it becomes possible for a single party to completely dominate the
legislature – the votes for other parties may as well
have been thrown away. People voting for other
political parties end up feeling disenfranchised.
Campaigns are run based on party lines, with little emphasis on
the candidates running in the riding. Voters will often
vote for the party regardless of the candidate representing a
particular party. For example, discussions with my
co-workers during the federal election campaign were completely
dominated by the policies of the party and the stature and views of
the party leaders. The fact that there are individuals
– real people – with their own viewpoints
running in the riding was effectively ignored.
The Solution:
Have a riding system with the bonus of having one’s
vote count for something. Take some of the party
politics out of the candidate selection process – thus
making the local candidates themselves more meaningful.
My suggestion is the following. Break the province
up into 50 ridings, equally divided according to population and
similar measures. (The method need not be too different
from what is being done today with 79 ridings.) These
seats would be selected in the same fashion as is being done
now. This guarantees each citizen will have a local MLA
to represent them.
The remaining 29 seats would then be based on a proportion of
the ballots cast in the election. To make this
meaningful, and to remove much of the party connection in the
voter’s selections for the local riding candidates,
give each voter a second ballot to select a political
party. These would be tallied on a province-wide basis,
and then the seats distributed proportionately. Include
a minimum 5% of all ballots cast before including fringe party
ballots in the proportional distribution process. Prior
to the election, each party must submit a list to the Chief
Electoral Officer and to the public of 29 people, ranked from 1 to
29. These people may not be running in any riding
during the current election. The MLAs chosen from these
lists are chosen from the top down. If, for example,
the Liberals were allocated 10 seats, the first 10 on the Liberal
list would be selected.
As a final twist, the electorate must be given the option to
reject the entire slate of candidates in their riding.
The candidate selection process is typically done by less than 3%
of the eligible voters in any riding – there is no
guarantee that these selections are palatable to the electorate at
large. So, on the ballot for the riding, include a last
option, ‘None of the above’. If
the ‘None of the above’ option
‘wins’ in the riding, a by-election must be
called within 45 days, with the stipulation that none of the
candidates that ran in the election are eligible to run in the
by-election.
The net result would be a more balanced legislature, with the
MLAs representing ridings being more responsible to their ridings
due to the weakening of the party connection. The
electorate would additionally feel more connected to their local
MLAs, and would also feel that their votes truly counted for
something – every vote cast would count towards an MLA
(at large) in the Legislature.
In summary:
-
Party politics dominate, often making individual MLAs
irrelevant
-
Voters feel disenfranchised when 60+% of the ballots are
‘thrown away’ as being cast for the
‘losers’ in the election.
Recommendations:
-
50 seats allocated as
‘first-past-the-post’ ridings.
-
Include a ‘None of the Above’ option in
the ridings.
-
29 seats allocated proportionately by a second, party-only
ballot, with a 5% minimum of the votes cast to be included in the
seat allocation process.
Conclusion:
I would appreciate due consideration being given this
proposal. While it is a mix of two systems, I believe
that it uses the advantages of both while minimizing their
weaknesses. While no system is perfect, I believe that
a system such as this one comes closer than many
others. Germany, for example, has a similar mixed
system –- though I believe the split is 50-50 between
ridings and proportional representation seats.
Thank you for your time.