Make Every Vote Count 2015 Campaign Webinar 1

Presentation followed by question and answer Type your questions into the question box on your control panel and raise your hand We may not get to all the questions! 2

We will cover: What is Fair Vote Canada? Why do we need proportional representation? A brief look the problems with winner-take-all voting Why make votes count? A look at the research Make Every Vote Count 2015 campaign How can you get involved? 3

Fair Vote Canada is a national, multi-partisan, grassroots citizens campaign for proportional representation! We support proportional representation at all levels of government: federal, provincial, and municipal. We have over 30 local teams, 35,000 signers on our Declaration of Voters’ Rights. 4

Your vote should count towards electing a representative you want. Results should be proportional to the popular vote (if a party gets 30% of the vote, they should get roughly 30% of the seats). 5

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winner-take-all voting A few problems with winner-take-all voting 7

An Electoral Math Lesson 8 8 8

Bloc – 1.3 million votes = 49 seats Greens - 940,000 votes = 0 seats 2008 federal results: Bloc – 1.3 million votes = 49 seats Greens - 940,000 votes = 0 seats 9 9 9

2008 Federal Election 1.3 Million votes = 49 Seats Greens 940,000 votes = 0 Seats 10 10 10

Saskatchewan Federal 2011 Results 56% voted Conservative Conservatives won 13 out of 14 seats 56% support = 92% seats 11 11

Alberta 2011 Federal Results 66% voted Conservative Conservatives won 26 out of 27 seats 66% support = 96% seats 12 12

Quebec 2011 Federal Results NDP won 59 of the 75 seats in Quebec Orange Crush? NDP won 59 of the 75 seats in Quebec 43% popular vote = 78% seats 13 13

First-past-the-post PR 2008 Federal Results First-past-the-post PR 23 49 28 117 37 143 57 77 81 14

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A “mandate” for our government? 2006: Elected on 36.27% of popular vote 2008: Elected on 37.65% of popular vote 2011: Majority government on 39.62% of the popular vote 1.96 % more of the vote = 23 more seats = 100% power 16 16

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Wasted votes 2011 = 7,280,599 Approx 50% each election Liberal 2,211,697 NDP 2,117,112 Green   540,205 Conservative 1,455,077 Bloc 826,805 Other:   129,703 18

Kitchener-Waterloo 2008 36.1% 63.9% 19 19

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Problems with winner-take-all voting Distorted results Regional polarization Wasted votes Safe seats Negative (strategic) voting Campaigns aimed at a few swing votes in a few swing ridings Adversarial politics Low Voter Turnout Suppression of minority views Barrier to electing more women and minorities 25 25 25

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Why proportional representation? A look at the evidence for making votes count 27

PR and Democracy Arend Lijphart – 36 countries over 55 yrs voter turnout 7.5% higher government policies closer to the view of the median voter citizens more satisfied with democracy 8% more women were elected 28

governments in 20 countries, with a major finding that: McDonald, Mendes and Budge (2004) looked at 254 elections producing 471 governments in 20 countries, with a major finding that: Proportional systems created governments which better reflected the views of the median voter 29

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PR and Income Inequality "Consensual political institutions tend to reduce income inequalities whereas majoritarian institutions have the opposite effect" (Birchfield and Crepaz, 1998, p. 192) Countries with proportional systems had lower income inequality - a “strong and significant effect” (Lijphart, 2012 p. 282) www.fairvote.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/IncomeInequalityandPR-2.pdf 31 31 31

Countries with PR systems scored 6 points higher on the Yale Environmental Performance Index, which measures 10 policy areas, incl. environmental health, air quality, resource management, biodiversity and habitat, forestry, fisheries, agriculture, climate change (Lijphart, 2012) PR and Environment 32 32 32

Countries with PR were faster to ratify the Kyoto protocol the percentage of world total carbon emissions decreased in PR countries while it increased in other countries or remained static (Cohen, 2010) PR and Environment 33

Is this the face of Canada? And not only are relatively few of us voting in Toronto elections, but look at the outcomes. When you look at a picture of the Toronto City Council, are you seeing the face of Toronto? In one of the world’s most culturally diverse cities, 9 of 10 council members are white – 8 of 10 are men. Is this the face of Canada? 34 34 34

PR and Women Almost any country with 30% or more women in its upper legislature uses a form of PR Countries with PR elect 8% more women on average 35

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PR and Economy Countries with moderately proportional systems were less likely to have deficits and more likely to have fiscal surpluses (Carey and Hix, London School of Economics, 2009) 38

PR and Economy Knutsen (2011) looked at 107 countries from 1820 to 2002 - 3710 “country years” and found that: Both proportional and semi-proportional systems produced higher economic growth than plurality-majoritarian - "a strong, significant effect" (p.86) 39

PR and Stability Between 1945 and 1998, countries using first-past-the-post averaged 16.7 elections, while countries using proportional systems averaged 16 elections (Pilon, 2007) Hugh Segal: Proportional Representation and Economic Policy www.fairvote.ca/economy 40

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2. Implementing the model in time for the following election. To determine the best model of Proportional Representation for Canada, we call on federal parties and candidates to commit to: 1. Conducting a citizen-led consultation process immediately following the next federal election. 2. Implementing the model in time for the following election. 44

We must elect a majority of MPs to the House of Commons in 2015 who are committed to making our votes count. 45

Where Do the Parties Stand Now? 46

Don’t support PR (last support for PR was a Progressive Conservative Party Resolution in 2002) 47

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AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT immediately after the next election, an all-Party process be instituted, involving expert assistance and citizen participation, to report to Parliament within 12 months with recommendations for electoral reforms including, without limitation, a preferential ballot and/or a form of proportional representation, to represent Canadians more fairly and serve Canada better. http://www.liberal.ca/31-priority-resolution-restoring-trust-canadas-democracy/ 49

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Key Liberal MPs for PR: Joyce Murray Stephane Dion http://stephanedion.liberal.ca/en/articles-en/p3-voting-system-canada/ 52

www.fairvote.ca/write-to-scott-simms-and-justin-trudeau-about-pr www.fairvote.ca/mpvisit 53

Scott Simms is now in favour of adding proportionality to our system Interesting fact: The last 3 Liberal Democratic Reform Critics – Stephane Dion, Carolyn Bennett and Mauril Belanger – have all been in favour of PR. 54

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NDP Democratic Reform Critic Craig Scott is doing a tour across Canada explaining MMP and getting feedback from Canadians. 58

Elizabeth May did a “Save Democracy from Politics” tour last year. The Charter of Global Greens includes proportional representation as one of their principles Elizabeth May did a “Save Democracy from Politics” tour last year. The Green Party of Canada and Fair Vote Canada were both intervenors in a court case against first-past-the-post 59

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Key components of Make Every Vote Count 2015 Working with allies to make electoral reform an election issue Getting the word out to Canadians through the work of our supporters, media and social media Encouraging supporters to work for candidates who support PR 62

How can you get involved? 63

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Help us get to 100,000 signatures on the Declaration of Voters’ Rights Share: www.fairvote.ca/declaration 65

Donate 66

Help us on the ground in your riding in 2015! 67

Liberals for Fair Voting Conservatives for Fair Voting Join a FVC caucus: Greens for Fair Voting NDP for Fair Voting Liberals for Fair Voting Conservatives for Fair Voting Women for Fair Voting Fair Vote Youth 68

Thank you for helping to Make 2015 the Last Unfair Election! 69