The Council of Canadians
Our mothers instilled in us the idea of “playing fair”. In school, we were taught that our political system, specifically democracy, is fair and that we follow “majority rule”. What a shock it is to learn that our First Past The Post electoral system is neither “fair” nor does it yield “majority rule”.
In the 17 elections since 1960, only once did the winning party receive more than 50% of the vote. Only one election in modern times has given us a real majority, a very slim majority of 50.03%. In the remaining 16 elections, the party that “won” did not receive a majority. How is that fair?
The current Liberal government was elected with 39.5% of the vote, yet they have 100% of the power – what gives? This election, like 16 out of the past 17 elections, is not majority rule.
In the last election the Liberals, the NDP and the Greens all committed in one way or another to ending FPTP. Even Conservative Scott Reid said at the all-candidates meetings that if elected, he would not support FPTP. Most parties acknowledge that this method of electing our government does not produce majority rule. They recognize that it is not fair.
The graph shows every election result since Confederation. The red line is the 50% mark. That is not my definition of fair or majority. The majority has no voice – that’s not democracy.
Of all the OECD countries, Canada, the US and the UK are the only countries that still cling to FPTP. The rest of the modern world have figured it out: FPTP is just not fair.
Want to build a fair and democratic Canada? Join one of these groups:
Council of Canadians- The Mississippi Mills Chapter
http://canadians.org/democracy
If you want to join a group of local people who are asking that Prime Minister Trudeau keep his promise that the 2015 election would be the last federal election under the First-Past-the-Post electoral system, our next full meeting is February 23, at the Mills Community Support (67 Industrial Drive, Almonte) at 7:00 pm. If you would like to get involved in our Proportional Representation group sooner, our next meeting is at Palms Coffee Shop (78 Mills Street, Almonte) on February 19th at 2 pm.
Fair Vote Canada
http://campaign2015.fairvote.ca
Active Campaign
Let’s Make 2015 the Last Unfair Election
Democracy Watch
Lead Now
http://LeadNow.ca
Active Campaign
Are You In On Voting Reform?
