Does our current electoral system fairly translate votes cast into actual political representation in Canada? Is there another electoral system which you believe would perform the task better or more fairly? Explain.

i think this is an essay topic i have in my pol.s class next term! haha

basically no. quebec is over represented (i can prove it, haha)

party - seats - % of pop - % of seats/
LIB - 135 - 36.71% - 43.8%
PC - 99 - 29.61% - 32.1%
BQ - 54 - 12.40% - 17.5%
NDP - 19 - 15.69% - 6.2%
IND - 1 - .13% - 1.4%
OTH - 0 - 5.47% - 0%

the NDP got more votes than the bloc, yet recieved FAR less seats. misrepresentation is the name of the game in canada.

(full canadian chart):
http://www.sfu.ca/~aheard/elections/2004-results.html

It is my topic this semester!

Just looking for some opinions

The Canadian system accurately represents the Canadian voters I think.

The more I think about proportional representation, the more I think its complete bullshit.

If 90% of Canadians vote for one party, and 10% vote for another, there is no way that there should be 10% of the seats allocated to that party which received 10% of the vote.

First past the post!

Election over by Ontario is a good thing?

I like a combination of both, kind of like American. The Senate should be proportionally elected

Yes. Half of Canada's population is situated in Ontario and Quebec. Does it really matter how we feel? Not really.

Half of Canada's wealth is situated in Alberta

perfect representation by population would be a definite ideal.
If you took the percentage of votes and broke them up equally in comparison with their total percentage of votes.

Pros: you would give representation to parties that do not have representation. for example the green party with 3% of the vote has no seats because it cannot win any ridings. Under a representation that is equal to the % of votes to seats then the house would actually be a representation by population.

Cons: How would you divide up the wards... You would have to elect some parties to govern wards that did not elect them.
It is not impossible to accomodate but is difficult under the system now.

It would also be difficult to pass bills because there would be a lot of disagreement and it would be harder to get 50% of the votes to pass something.

Hal of Canada's population makes over 30k / year (Just grabbing random numbers...). Does it really matter how those impoverished, without a job or any support feel?

I'm not big on social programs but I am big on having everyone represented. Especially when so many of the dealings in the East hurt the Western provinces!

There are pros and cons to every system. The major drawback for me with proportional representation is the number of minority governments that would result. If I have my facts rights, in Italy where they have that system, people there vote on a national scale every 2 frickin' years, because their minority governments always fall. I dont want that here, especially considering that the major parties in Canada have such a tough time finding middleground on issues. Just dont know if it would work here.

Also, I was reading an article on CBC's website, where they examined a hybird system of the "first past the post" and proportional representation type electoral system. Where 2/3 of the seats in parliament would come from the "first past the post" system, and the other third allocated to the political parties from the percentage of the total vote they receive. It would be quite interesting if this hybrid system was implemented. Kinda like taking the best from both worlds.

As for an elected senate, I think its a myth to assume that this will give Alberta more power in Ottawa per se, since the regoin of Canada who would hold the majority of power in that senate would be the Altantic provinces.

Your thoughts on this?

We are represented by population. If 90% of the people live in the East, and 10% live in the south, those in the east get 90% of the resources and the west gets 10%.

"when will people learn? democracy doesnt work!" (quote from the simpsons)

haah not i agree, capitalism pwnez all joo hippies

Originally posted by Weapon_R
The Canadian system accurately represents the Canadian voters I think.

The more I think about proportional representation, the more I think its complete bullshit.

If 90% of Canadians vote for one party, and 10% vote for another, there is no way that there should be 10% of the seats allocated to that party which received 10% of the vote.

First past the post!

wait wait wait, so you are saying that you believe the majority vote should get all the seats? there should be no opposition?

what you said was that if 10% of the pop voted for a party, fuck them, they are on the wrong team, lets take their 10% of the seats and give them to someone else! can you justify this?