Canada Should Adopt Proportional Representation

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For a democratic country to thrive, they must have a proper electoral system in producing the party to oversee our government. Since its inception in 1867, Canada has been using the first past the post system during elections to decide their leading party. Although we have been using this system for an extended duration of time, the FPTP system is flawed and should be changed. The goal of this paper is to prove the effectiveness of shifting to more of a proportional system, while also exposing the ineptness of Canada’s current system. With other methods advancing and little change of the first past the post system, this system is becoming predated. A variation of the proportional electoral system is key because it empowers voters, increases voter turnout, and creates a more diverse environment. Canada should adopt a more proportionate electoral system at the federal level if we wish to expand democracy. A proportionate electoral system (otherwise known as proportional representation or PR) grants its voters a voice in their vote. The way that the PR system works is that for every percentage of votes a party receives, they will be granted around the same percentage of seats in parliament. For example, if a party receives 35% of the votes, they would receive 35% of the seats in legislature. This is important for Canada because it gives smaller parties a better chance of retaining a seat. There are many different varieties of PR, due to the fact that at often times, the voting percentages do not evenly translate into the number of seats available (King, 2000). For instance, if a party receive 33.6% of the vote, they can’ receive 33.6% of seats. Because of this, numerous variations of the PR system have been created. The most common... ... middle of paper ... ...System of Canada. http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=res&dir=ces&document=part2&lang=e#31 6.) http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/society/voter-turnout.aspx 7.) http://dranoffhuddart.com/dl/LSD_Oct07_MMP_comments.pdf 8.) http://www.fairvote.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/FVC-Tabloid.pdf 9.) https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/polit/damy/BeginnningReading/howprwor.htm 10.) http://www.fairvote.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Voting-Systems-We-Have-Choices.pdf 11.) http://www.fulbright.de/fileadmin/files/togermany/grants/gss/2009/A058-2001-KlingemannWessels-Germany_Mixed_Member_System.pdf 12.) http://www.llss.sd73.bc.ca/socials11/materials/chapter9/maj_vs_min_govt.pdf 13.) http://www.socialjustice.org/uploads/pubs/CanadasDemocraticDeficit.pdf 14.) http://www.irpp.org/fr/options-politiques/votes-and-seats-fr-ca/canadian-perspectives-on-the-voting-system-fr-ca/

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