Overview:

You remember that adorable nerd, Stephane Dion? A few years ago, he came up with a better electoral reform system than anybody else ever has. But Canada has not adopted this system, because Dion has spent the last five years standing on the edge of the conversation, waiting for a natural lull so he can try and say something, and then get all flustered and back away to stand blushing by the snacks table. The system is called ‘Proportional-Preferential-Personalized’ or ‘P3’, because if Stephane Dion was good at branding, he would have been Prime Minister in 2008.

How Does It Work?

Ridings get five times bigger, and now elect five MPs. Voters use a ranked ballot to choose what parties they want and what candidates they want from those parties. The bigger share of the vote a party gets, the more of those 5 MPs they get. Don’t really have a joke about this, because it’s difficult to crack wise about elegant, poeto-mathematical perfection.

Pros:

– Reflects the democratic impulse of PR, without letting fringe parties become kingmakers.

– Proportional, but does not give undue power over candidates to the parties.

– Eliminates need to vote tactically.

– Allows regional representation, but makes sure votes aren’t wasted in polarized regions.

– Look at Stephane’s face, he’s so sweet, this would make him so happy.

Cons:

– Perhaps humanity is undeserving of such perfection?

Who uses this system?

Hyperintelligent space aliens, bashful French Canadian policy wonks, Heaven, if it wasn’t a cruel dictatorship.

Who wants this system?

– You!

– Me, clearly!

– Nerds.

Who hates this system?

– Jocks and Bullies.

– I dunno, Hitler I guess? Maybe Genghis Khan?

How likely are we to get it?

Perhaps someday- perhaps someday when Humanity turns its swords to ploughshares, studies war no more, lives in peace and unafraid beneath the fig-tree and the flow’ring vine, when the lion lies down with the lamb, and the fish makes love to the osprey, when the rivers run with milk and honey, with abundant wine and Dr. Pepper, when there is an end to jealousy and bitter strife, when we have paid the penalty of Adam, and pulled the nails from the wrist of Christ, when the blood of Abel is washed from our tunics, and the neutron bomb is buried in the bosom of the ocean, when the only tax is love for fellow-man, healing is the only punishment, Death comes in its time and is feared no longer, and the bulldogs all have rubber teeth, and the geese lay soft boiled eggs beneath the cigarette trees, perhaps then, then we will have the P3 system that our better selves deserve.

For a more in-depth description, see here: http://sdion.liberal.ca/en/news-nouvelles/p3-voting-system-canada-2/