I would like to express my opposition to proportional
representation. As this has been the dominant matter in
this assembly, I would first like to list my reasons for opposing
it before stating my preference for reform.
The reasons why I am against Proportional Representation:
-
It will put unelected members in parliament. To even
out the number of MPs in the house to match percentage of votes,
unelected members not chosen by the public will be granted seats in
the House of Commons. This is inherently
undemocratic.
-
It will encourage patronage. The appointed MPs could
be the chosen favourites of the party leaders, people who may be
appointed in return for their favours or service.
-
It will take away the power of rural voters and put it in the
hands of urban areas. In our system now, each riding
has roughly the equivalent amount of voters (with some
exceptions). This creates a balance.
Because every seat counts, parties must address rural concerns
(such as agriculture, fishing, forestry, railways).
With proportional representation, parties will focus on courting
votes mostly in areas with the highest concentration of voters;
cities. Which leads to the next point:
-
Proportional is a subjective term; Proportional Representation
will create disproportion in other areas. Currently,
when majority governments are elected with a minority of votes,
it's because they won by large margins in the cities and slim
margins in rural areas. This fact forces parties to
campaign everywhere and make every riding count. While
the current system isn't proportional in terms of votes, it is
proportional in making sure that urban votes are considered to be
of equal importance as the city votes.
-
I have the common concerns about Proportional Representation
perhaps causing unstable minority governments on a frequent
basis.
My preference for reform:
Although I am fully in favour of a Preferential Ballot [the
Alternative Vote, AV], I have another idea which would cost
Elections Canada nothing, and would require only one minor change
in our election laws: Let voters put an X beside more than one name
on a ballot [Approval voting].
It's similar to preferential balloting in that it gives voters
more than one choice. Say there's 10 names on the
ballot, the voter thinks two or three of them would equally be good
MPs, so they can vote for whomever they feel is qualified [approve
of]. The person with the most votes still wins in a
first-past-the-post style, but it relieves voters of the need to
vote strategically.
Aside from this idea, my second choice is for the Preferential
Ballot, and my third choice is no change at all. I
believe Proportional Representation will be worse or equally as bad
as the system currently in place, but for different reasons.
I also believe voting should be mandatory by law.
I hope my thoughts are useful in this forum.
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