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In a recent interview, former prime minister Jean Chretien railed against efforts to replace Canada’s current electoral system with proportional representation, calling it a way for “apparatchiks” to “enter Parliament through the back door.”

“For all the professors who want to sit in Parliament but who can’t even get themselves elected dogcatcher, sure, it’s a good system,” the 84-year-old said in a French language interview with Le Devoir.

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“Going to the street corner, shaking hands and asking for a vote. That’s democracy.”

Proportional representation loosely refers to any electoral system designed to more accurately reflect the popular vote.

Under Canada’s current “first past the post” system, MPs only need to win a plurality of votes in their riding. The frequent result is that Canadian political parties need only about 40 per cent of the vote to form a majority government. In extreme cases, MPs have been able to go to Ottawa with a mere 26 per cent of their riding’s support.