Make elections make sense With today’s voting system 40% of the votes can give a party 60% of the seats and 100% of the power and that’s not democratic Canada needs a fair voting system, Huh?? NOW!

Do the people in this building represent our interests?

Why don’t politicians listen?

What does Democracy mean? A form of government where citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives, either directly, or through elected representatives. Government “by the people”, rule of the majority. Cleisthenes, "father of Athenian democracy"

Types of Democracy ‘ Direct democracy’: people vote on policy initiatives directly. ‘Representative democracy’: people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives. A referendum (or plebiscite) is a limited type of direct democracy used in many representative democracies.

1) All votes are equal What are the characteristics of a good voting system? 2) Majority rule

The Building Blocks of Democracy ‘ Voting systems’ are the foundations of democracy. ‘Voting’ translates the ‘idea’ of democracy into the ‘practice’ of democracy.

Voting Systems: FPTP In Canada, all the major elections (federal and provincial) use the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system. Canada did not actively choose to use FPTP, we inherited from the days of the British Empire. FPTP is used mostly in the United Kingdom and by countries which were former British colonies.

FPTP in Canada Canada is divided into 308 federal ridings. The candidate with the most votes in that riding, gets a seat in Parliament. The party with the most seats, forms the government, If a party wins over 50% of the seats in Parliament, there will be a “majority” government.

Problems with FPTP False Majority. Wasted Votes. Not All Votes Are Equal. Low Voter Turn-out / voter apathy. Young People Reluctant to vote. Fewer Women Elected. Strategic Voting (aka tactical voting) vs. Sincere Voting.

Majority Rule? Since WW2 we have 21 elections with 13 majority governments Phoniest majority ever Liberalsat 38% How many were legitimate? % of vote % (211 seats)

False Majority Results of the 41 st General Election, 2011 Percentage of Votes vs. Seats FPTP system Party % of Vote Conservative Party of Canada39.6 New Democratic Party30.6 Liberal Party of Canada18.9 Bloc Quebecois6.1 Green Party3.9 % of Seats

False Majority 2011 Federal Election Results Distribution of seats by FPTP vs. PR Party FPTP Conservative Party of Canada166 New Democratic Party103 Liberal Party of Canada34 Bloc Quebecois4 Green Party1 PR

False Majority 2011 Federal Election Results Distribution of seats by FPTP vs. PR

False Majority The 35 th General Election, 1993 % of Seats# of Seats Party % of Vote Liberal Party of Canada41.2 Bloc Quebecois13.52 Reform Party18.69 New Democratic Party6.88 Progressive Conservative16.04 Other3.67

Wasted Votes 2011 Federal Election Results

Wasted Votes 2011 Federal Election Results

Wasted Votes Typical riding results Candidate A:40% Candidate B:30% Candidate C:20% All others: 10% 60% of the votes are “wasted” or ineffective

Wasted Votes If voters who cast ineffective votes in the 2011 election were asked to form a line beginning it Halifax, it would stretch to: a) Quebec City? b)Ottawa? c)Newmarket d) Winnipeg? e) Victoria? Imagine if those 7 million votes counted Pacific Ocean!

Wasted votes: How we compare to other nations Scotland (2003)6% wasted Germany (2005)4% wasted New Zealand (2005)1% wasted Canada (2011)49.6% wasted

Votes Are Wasted– Why Vote? The Saskatchewan NDP Shut-Out 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2011 Federal Elections 2004: 23.4% of votes = 0 seats 2006: 24.1% of votes = 0 seats 2011: 32.3% of votes = 0 seats 2008: 25.5% of votes = 0 seats 464,839 votes cast by Saskatchewan NDP supporters since 2004 have been wasted.

What happens in systems with a high portion of wasted votes? Strategic voting, not sincere voting Low turn-out (Canada ranked 109th in the 1990s) 64.1% in 2011 Suppression of minority views

All Votes Are Not Equal The Bloc and the Greens, 2008 Fed. Election 948,000 votes = 0 seats 1.3 million votes = 49 seats

All Votes Are Not Equal Tory-free zone Meanwhile, in 2008 nearly a half million Conservative voters in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver elected no one – no MPs from the largest cities sat in the governing party’s caucus.

All Votes Are Not Equal Average votes per seat in Parliament 2008 Bloc1 = 28,000 Conservatives1 = 36,000 Liberals1 = 47,000 NDP1 = 68,000 Green0 = 940,000

All Votes Are Not Equal * if you believe the right things and live in the right place, they do Every vote is counted, but not every vote counts*

Women in Parliament As of May 2012 Something's rotten in the state of democracy. Women's representation in national governments:

Women in Parliament UN recommends governments have 33% women 52% of Canada’s population are women Women have 24% of the seats in parliament.

Wrong Results Quebec Provincial Election, 1998 Party % of Vote Parti Quebecois42.87 Liberal Party43.55 Action- Democratique Other1.77 % of Seats # of Seats

No Opposition Party No Opposition Party The New Brunswick Liberal Sweep, 1987 The missing opposition! Party % of Vote Liberal Party60.39 Progressive Conservative NDP10.55 Independent0.47 % of Seats# of Seats

Solution to the Problems of FPTP Proportional Representation (PR) Replace our inherited voting system with a Proportional Representation (PR) voting system This is the foundation for revitalizing democracy in Canada! Voting System Reform!

No false majority governments All votes are equal and all votes count (sincere). Increase voter turn-out (better job of reflecting will of voters More women and minorities elected. Very flexible systems - can be designed many ways WHY ?

Voting Systems In democratic countries there are two major types of voting systems: winner-take-all systems (like FPTP) and proportional systems (PR) About 90 democratic nations use some form of PR for their electoral system; Canada is not one of them

Proportional Representation (PR) Voting Systems PR is based on a very simple principle: seats earned = percentage of vote This creates fair results: 40% = 40% 20% = 20% 10% = 10% Make every vote count and treat all votes equally

Example of a basic ‘LIST’ PR system The key: electing a number of MPs in one riding Larger riding with say 10 seats Each party has 10 candidates on the ‘LIST’ You vote for the party and it’s platform The percentage of party votes indicates number of candidates from a parties list. 70 countries use the list systems: Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, Finland, Austria, Norway, Denmark and many others.

Example of a Ballot for List & Single Transferable Vote Systems

Example of a List Result With this example, any party supported by 10% of the voters will have representation. Under winner-take-all, only the most popular party would be represented, in this case the Liberals. PartyVoteSeats Candidate A40%4 MPs Candidate B30%3 MPs Candidate C20%2 MPs Candidate D10%1 MP 100%10MP PartyVoteSeats Candidate A40%4 MPs Candidate B30%3 MPs Candidate C20%2 MPs Candidate D10%1 MP 100%10MP

Single Transferable Vote (STV) Voters rank candidates as they wish, and can even vote across party lines. Candidates reaching a quota are elected and their remaining votes go to the next candidate, an so on. STV is adaptable to non-party elections – e.g., municipal elections or for NGO board elections. STV is used in Ireland and recommended for BC.

Single Transferable Vote (STV) Votes are successively transferred to hopefuls candidates from two sources: 1.Surplus votes (i.e. those in excess of the quota) of successful candidates 2.All votes of eliminated candidates. Count votes of first choices Does a candidate make the vote quota? Eliminate last place candidate Count all redistributed votes Becomes one of the riding representative NO YES

Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) Incorporates elements of PR and FPTP Half or more of the members of parliament are elected in single-member ridings. The rest of the members are elected from party lists. Voters cast two votes, one to elect their local member and another to indicate the party they support.

Example of MMP Results With this example, each riding votes for a representative. Correction Seats are allocated to each party based on the popular vote Under winner-take-all system, Party A would have a (false) majority A 80 40% B 50 30% C 15 20% D 5 10% A 80 40% B 50 30% C 15 20% D 5 10% Party Riding Seats % Pop. Vote Proportion of 300 Seats Correction Seats

Mixed Member Proportional (MMP)

Mixed Member Proportional

Examples: Germany, New Zealand, Scotland, Wales Recommended by the Law Commission of Canada in 2004 Also proposed for Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and PEI

“As two individuals from opposite ends of the political spectrum who disagree on most issues, we wholeheartedly agree on one thing - changing our electoral system to better represent the wishes of voters is an urgent necessity.” November Globe and Mail Judy Rebick rabble.ca Walter Robinson Canadian Taxpayers Federation Who Wrote This?

FVC National Advisory Board (partial listing) Lincoln Alexander Rick Anderson Lloyd Axworthy Sylvia Bashevkin Maude Barlow Patrick Boyer Ed Broadbent June Callwood Max Ferguson Lorne Nystrom Sylvia Ostry Judy Rebick Walter Robinson Rick Salutin Hugh Segal David Suzuki Ted White Lois Wilson

Fair Voting System: a made-in-Canada solution Proportional representation Fair representation for women Accountable government Geographic representation Real voter choice

Evolution of air travel: within 66 years

Evolution of communication: 19 th century to 21 st century

Evolution of medicine: 19 th century to 21 st century

Evolution of education: 19 th century to 21 st century

Evolution of Canadian voting: 19 th century to 21 st century

Find out more about PR Visit the Fair Vote Canada website (fairvote.ca) or Facebook page. Learn about different types of PR systems. Before you vote, ask candidates about PR. It’s your country. Canada’s future belongs to you and your children.

Make it happen! Join today! Fair Vote Canada

Voting Systems: FPTP ‘First-Past-The-Post’ gets its name from the early days of horse racing, when the first horse ‘past the post’ won the race. This is also refered to as ‘winner take all’ system. Whichever candidate gets the most votes is elected. The winning candidate doesn’t have to have a majority (50%) to win.