The Progressive Party of Ontario is Fundamentally Unrepresentative of Ontarians

Just about all of the pco seats won in the recent election are in rural ON, and all of those elected seem to be white. How representative of the people of Ontario are the Hudakians when they clearly lack ethnic diversity and are so deeply concentrated in rural Ontario? And, add to these two glaring weaknesses, those rural ridings constitute only 25% of the average Canadian population but disproportionately have as much political power as an uban riding with three times the population. Ethnic diversity, rural concentration, disproportinate riding power: three fundamental ways in which the Hudakians are starkly unrepresentative and a clear reminder that we need to change both our riding structure and our voting sytem if we want really broad democratic representation. See my remarks on Proportional Representation elsewhere on the blog

Simulation of Ontario Vote Suggests Proportional Representation Has Merit

                                        Voting system affects outcome, simulation finds - Ottawa - CBC News


This experiment is fascinating. What I find most intriguing are the hypothetical outcomes in terms of both a percentage of the popular vote and seat distribution based on the actual results of out first past the post Ontario election:

                                                    Actual FPTP Election Outcome and Weighted AV and PR Vote Results

	FPTP (Actual election outcome)	AV (first preferences)	PR
Liberal	37.6 %	33.6%	32.1%
PC	35.4%	32.7%	28.4%
NDP	22.7	24.6	26.2
Green	2.9%	6.5%	7.2%
Other	1.3%	2.6%	6.2%

                                                    Actual FPTP seat distribution and estimated PR seat distribution

	FPTP (actual election outcome)	PR
Liberal	53	36
PC	37	31
NDP	17	31
Green	0	8
Other	0	1

Notice how radically different, in particular, the distribution of seats would be under an actualized PR system and how much of the power shifts to both the ONDP and the GPO away from the OLP and PCPO.

There is little doubt that PR is a more fundamentally democratic system of voting for the simple reason that it is more representative of actual voter participation and presumed intention. It does lead to an entirely different kind of governing structure involving much negotiation and many  trade-offs, true, but it is representational government at its most core level - which is why so many around the world use it as their voting system despite the challenges.

And our voting system of FPTP is certainly one but not the only reason for such profound voter indifference and apathy, especially from young and less educated voters, who feel  -  given that they think at all about an election - that  were they to take the time to vote, their vote would almost always be wasted unless they voted for the FPTP winner:  you vote for candidate x, but you don't see that vote reflected in the results in any way.  With a PR system, no matter for whom you voted, you do. It seems to me that this potential for real political participation is a very good reason to begin a serious public conversation about our voting system.

Stable Majority Goverments and Electoral Reform | rabble.ca

Since day one of the campaign, Harper and his gang have been consistently spining the message that a majority goverment for his party is good for us because it will provide stability.  Let’s take a closer look at that highly dubious proposition.

First off, is a majority government in and of itself, no matter what party, necessarily a good thing?  Despite our parliamentary traditions, I think not.  Under our first past the post system, it obviously concentrates power  undemocratically in the hands of one party which may or may not  necessarily represent the full spectrum of Canadian citizenship. Discounting those who did not vote at all in the last election, for whatever reason, and given that three out of four people who did vote in the last election did not do so for the Harperites, Harper’s goverment, it would seem clear, did not represent the majority of Canadian citizens or necessarily their value when it assumed power in 2008.  That’s a very significant exclusion of direct representation for a large number of people -- and that’s not taking into consideration how many who did not vote might not have been supportive of the Harperites, a perspective about which we can only speculate.  So in and of itself a majority isn’t axiomatically a better form of goverment or a better form of democratic representation.

A similar question can be asked about stability.  Does a stable government in and of itself automatically yield “better” goverment - whatever that might be - or a more democratically responsive goverment?  One could argue that a stable goverment provides the ground  of power to get things done, to move legislation and implement policy.  But what if, say, two-thirds to three-quarters of Canadians disapprove of those policies and their legislative forms? Other than grass roots protests and political activism outside the system and perhaps, in limited ways, through the proxy of opposition parties can any sort of poltical objection be mounted.  The problem is, however, that these forms of democratic action, as self-satisfying  and sometimes effective as they might be, lack the efficacy that a voice in parliament would yield.

Democracy is, as many have said, a very messy business.  We should rejoice in  that fact, not bemoan it,  as so many in the main line parties seem to do.  Real democracy involves real participatory work that needs to be embraced by us all.  From what I can see, the only formal remedy to speed up that full embrace is electoral reform based on proportional representation -- a form of broadbased democratic goverment well established around the world,  the only exceptions in the western world being  -- surprise, surprise -- the U.S., Canada, and Britain, this  last, however, gearing up for a move towards real proportioal representation soon.   Isn’t it about time that we begin gearing up too?

Take a look at what  Fair Vote Canada is trying to do: Fair vote Canada.

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Here are some suggestions for gearing up:

1) Establish a network of all the grassroots organizations across the country who have or would support proportional representation -- a sort of ACTION NETWORK focused on democratic reform.

2) Seek resources and - judiciously - support internationally.

3) Work the media assiduously in an effort to create a wide public discourse  about the issue.

4) Begin serious lobbying of the main line parties that might benefit from proportional representation.  (After this election, that may number two, not one.)

5) Lobby provincial parties that would benefit from proportional representation in their jurisdiction to bring them on board the NETWORK.

5) Consider legal options if necessary and possible.

We should all probably have a good conversation about mandatory voting and the notion of a preferential ballot first.  The latter is very attractive as a fall-back position to proportional representation.  When one votes, one chooses a preferential order of candidates.  Political parties use this system, but it too has its problems.  Proportional still seems the fairest, most democratic method even if the results are messy and involve agreements and negotiations.  That's what democracy is all about, one could argue

via Stable Majority Goverments and Electoral Reform | rabble.ca.

Postscript May 8, 2011 3:09 PM : Of course, AV was overwhelming defeated on May 5 in the U.K. I'm not reading much into this since there was such massive propaganda from everyone apparently during the referendum campaign, not to mention that AV is very problematic. But a question remains: was the vote a rejection of AV or an endorsement of FPTP?

I should add India to the list of countries still on FPTP.