End of the first-past-the post electoral system?

• Author: Caron, Jean-Francois

All federal, provincial and territorial elections in Canada use the first-past-the-post electoral system. However, this system is coming under increased criticism due to the disparity between popular votes and seats won in the Assembly. This article makes the case for electoral reform.

It is no secret to anyone that an increasingly dim view is being taken of politicians within our parliamentary institutions. A 1995 poll indicated that only 4% of the population trusted them.(1) The same is true in other western democracies. The unpopular image of our elected representatives prompted the philosopher Charles Taylor to say that in all western countries, there is a new orthodoxy that regards all politicians as corrupt.(2)

Canadians and Quebecers are looking for a new understanding with the political class, a new social contract, one that would be based much more on consultation and easier access to discussion.

One such solution, currently being examined in Great Britain, is reform of our "first-past-the-post" electoral system to produce one that would combine proportional representation with the existing voting system.

Inequalities inherent in the first-past-the-post system

The first-past-the-post system presents a number of advantages for the electorate. It is familiar to the general public, and provides an easy and speedy way both to vote and to count the results. In addition, it generally guarantees stability in government by giving one party a comfortable majority in Parliament.

Nonetheless, the first-past-the-post method produces serious distortions that a mixed voting method might remedy.

It should therefore come as no surprise to find that the first past the post system is in use in only four countries: Canada, the United States, India and Great Britain. When Tony Blair came to power in Great Britain in 1997, he initiated an in-depth reform of its democratic institutions, establishing an independent commission chaired by Lord Jenkins of Hillhead.

The results of that commission came as a cold shower for supporters of the existing system, by exposing its weaknesses -- the exact same weaknesses we find in Canada.

In fact, the first-past-the-post voting method has an annoying tendency to over-account for trends in public opinion, and may result in large majorities in Parliament, as was the case in Quebec last November when the Parti Quebecois got 26 more seats than the Liberals although the Liberals had obtained more votes. This is something that happens relatively frequently -- three times in Quebec in the space of 50 years, in 1944,1966 and 1998. It also happened twice in the federal Parliament, in 1957 and 1962.

It is interesting to note that between 1921 and 1974, only 2 out of 17 federal elections resulted in one party obtaining an absolute majority of the vote. In 1997, the Liberal Party retained a majority in the House, although 60% of Canadians expressed a preference for another party.

These serious inequalities do nothing to encourage public trust in the political class. As Andre Bernard said in his book La politique au Canada et au Quebec, inequalities in the...