Electoral system isn’t broken, Letters, Jan. 3

Letter writer Michael Ufford is perfectly correct in his remarks about the justness of the first-past-the-post (FPP) system we have now, but only with respect to local councils. In our federal and provincial elections, most of us are far more concerned with province-wide or nation-wide issues. And most of us are thinking of a party, not a local candidate, when we cast our ballot.

With FPP, you only get democratic results at the local level and almost never at the provincial or national level. In the last federal election, for example, one party won 54 per cent of the Parliamentary seats with just 39.5 per cent of the votes. Another party won 19.7 per cent of the votes but only 13 per cent of the seats. By any measure, such results are significantly undemocratic. That’s why almost no other country in the world uses a purely FPP system.

The mixed-member-proportional (MMP) system is excellent because it combines the best of both FPP and proportional representation. It results in a Parliament that includes an MP for every local riding, plus a set of proportional MPs allocated to each party so that the seat representation duplicates the voting results. Voters get exactly what they voted for.

But if Canadians somehow can’t wrap their minds around MMP — even though it is used in many countries similar to ours, including Scotland, New Zealand and Germany — then let’s adopt a preferential ballot, as in Australia. Just about anything is better than FPP.

Steven Spencer, Pickering

The majority of Canadians never get what they vote for under our current electoral system. In the 2011 election, 61 per cent didn’t vote Conservative. In the 2015 election, 61 per cent voted for parties promising balanced budgets but the House of Commons has agreed to deficit financing.

On a regular basis, 60 to 80 per cent of Canadians don’t get what they voted for, no matter which party gets elected. And our politicians wonder why they are viewed with disdain.

It is not the job of government to mindlessly install their own ideology or attempt to keep their election promises. It is to interpret what the electorate voted for or against.

James Miller, St. Catharines, Ont.

If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prefers a ranked ballot he could fulfill his election promise by simply putting it to a non-binding referendum, followed by a vote in Parliament. One caveat would be that any political party supporting the first-past-the-post system must use it to select their own candidates and leaders. None of the major parties currently use FPP because they know that in a multi-candidate race, an incompetent person could win.

Rob Strang, Orangeville, Ont.

Year in, year out, poll after poll confirms that a wide majority of us want more proportionality in our electoral system. Almost 100 years ago, Liberal prime minister Mackenzie King promised to make 1921 the last election held under first-past-the-post. And then, like Justin Trudeau, he broke his promise.

Trudeau packed it in because he didn’t like the answer he got. Democracy means sometimes you don’t get your way, even if your hair is really pretty.

Ann Remnant, Nelson, B.C.

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