If the Green party is going to put up any sort of fight in the Toronto-Centre by-election, they’ll have to hope the riding’s voters are really jazzed about proportional representation.

On Monday, the party announced in a press release that John Deverell, a former Toronto Star reporter and — more significantly, some might argue — a Liberal, will be their candidate to replace Bob Rae.

A founding treasurer of Fair Vote Canada — a non-partisan group that pushes for proportional representation and, coincidentally, just added Bob Rae to their advisory board — Deverell also recently worked on Joyce Murray’s Liberal leadership campaign.

He did so, the release explains, because she was the only advocate for ending Canada’s first-past-the-post (winner take all) voting system.

But now he sees the Green party as a more committed champion of the cause.

“This by-election is a wonderful chance for Toronto voters, with the whole country watching to tell all the parties in Ottawa that the political system is broken and we want it fixed – now,” said Deverell in the release.

At the same time, he also addressed voter apathy — something he seemed to be suggesting might be a consequence of Canadian voters’ perceived inability to influence the outcome of elections.

Hence the need for proportional representation.

“Among those who still bother to vote, half are unable to elect a representative to Parliament. Half of us are required to pay taxes without having a democratic voice, and this is unacceptable,” he said.

Both the NDP and Liberal nominate their candidates this Saturday.