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That appears to be the root cause of Justin Trudeau’s declaration that, if he has his way, the election in October will be the last under the first-past-the-post system, which has served Canada reliably since Confederation, and hasn’t hindered the country from attaining its present level of peace, prosperity and tolerance. The only thing wrong, it appears, is that it can no longer be counted on to assure regular, lengthy periods of Liberal rule.

In the past, even during those occasional periods when the Liberals were out of power, they could expect a return to office once voters tired of the Tories. In a system in which Liberals or Conservatives were the only viable choices, they knew they just had to bide their time. One election, two at the most, and they’d be back on top. But it’s very possible that, given current trends, October could see the party lose again, for the fourth time, this time to the New Democrats. Clearly this is intolerable. Liberals can’t countenance a system in which they are forced to compete against a serious challenge from not one, but two other rivals. So the system has to change.

Trudeau says he isn’t fussy about which system is chosen in place of first-past-the-post, just so long as it ensures the Liberal seat count is a closer reflection of its share of the vote. He could go with a ranked ballot – in which people pick their first, second and third choices, which get shuffled around depending on the outcome – or any of several variations on representation-by- population, which can get pretty convoluted and unpredictable. Again, none of this mattered when Liberals held power, but now it does.