Fair Vote Canada 🗳️🍁 on Bluesky
Democracy shouldn’t be a guessing game.
Vote for who you believe in—and get the representation you deserve.
Demand proportional representation!
Fair Vote Canada 🗳️🍁 on Bluesky
Democracy shouldn’t be a guessing game.
Vote for who you believe in—and get the representation you deserve.
Demand proportional representation!
I mostly linked thr video because it is such a nice quick overview for lay people like me :)
To me, “PR” connects to systems like used in the Netherlands (my second nationality) and Belgium. Both countries are effectively ungovernable because too much time is spent on forming coalitions, turning the country into a bureaucracy. People still dont feel represented because most parties tend to concentrate candidates from the cities where there is (and always will be) more political activity. Germany (I lived there for a while) has MMP of course but that had resulted in an enormous amounts of seats and, IIRC, very high barriers of entry to smaller parties. And, given the rise of AfD, not really instrumental it seems in letting people feel they have a say.
I’m not a fan of our current system either but strangely enough I feel more represented by an MP or MPP I can walk up to and discuss things with and who knows my area’s issues because they are “my neighbor” even though i did not vote for them then in .NL where parliamentarians representing “my” vote… Well, they were far away abstract things :)
I worked with CIVS in many settings and that seems to work well enough in practice even though it is a ranked system, but vote counting… Tough when it requires higher maths (I worked at polling stations in the past and highly value being observed when counting paper ballots).
Anyway, I’m not sure what system exactly the ads (I see them as such) are arguing for so I guess I interpret them - as I think many are likely to do - in my own context and then I am, well, the grass isn’t that green at the other side either.
(And to me, unscientifically, in the countries where I lived or worked, subjective fairness of the respective systems seemed often to be more influenced by the actual democratic roots of a country then the particular voting mechanisms in use. I guess that schools play the most important role in any electoral system).
Looking more at your site it is still quite abstract what is wanted. “Not what we have now” is just a starting point, but I see lists of alternatives, not a concrete proposal? Leaves things open for interpretation including potential misinterpretation where I’m like “oh please no not more like .NL” ;) (which I don’t consider a proper democracy to begin with, too many appointed posts and no constitutional court).
Bit of a ramble, I know, this is hard on a phone.
Thanks for the bit-by-bit on the veritasium vid, I’ll rewatch it later with your notes in hand.
I appreciate your engagement on this topic, and I understand your concerns based on your experiences abroad. Let me address your points and clarify what PR advocates are actually proposing for Canada.
First, let’s distinguish between different PR systems. What works in the Netherlands (list PR) isn’t what’s being proposed for Canada. The main PR options suitable for our context are:
Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) - You maintain your local MP exactly as you have now, plus regional MPs to ensure overall proportionality. Regarding “enormous amounts of seats” - this is largely subjective, and MMP can be implemented without increasing the total number of seats at all. The legislature size is a design choice, not an inherent requirement.
Single Transferable Vote (STV) - Multi-member districts where you rank candidates by preference. Ireland has used this successfully since 1922.
Regarding your specific concerns:
On “ungovernability”: Research shows PR countries actually have more stable policy direction, not less. What looks like “instability” to outside observers is actually democratic negotiation. Policy lurch costs far more - when each new FPTP government undoes the previous government’s work.
On constitutional courts: While important for legal oversight, a constitutional court isn’t universally considered a requirement for “proper democracy.” Many well-functioning democracies have different systems of judicial review. The core of democracy is citizens having meaningful representation - which is precisely what PR aims to strengthen.
On local representation: Your experience of feeling represented by an MP you “can walk up to” is actually quite rare. For the majority of Canadians whose preferred candidate loses in their riding, they have no representative who shares their political values. Under FPTP, roughly half of all voters cast ballots that elect nobody at all - they have zero representation aligned with their views.
On subjective fairness: While cultural and historical factors certainly influence democratic experiences, we don’t need to rely on subjective impressions. We have objective mathematical criteria for evaluating electoral systems: proportionality indices, wasted vote percentages, and voter satisfaction metrics all demonstrate that PR systems outperform FPTP in translating votes to seats fairly.
The fundamental democratic principle remains: in a democracy, citizens deserve representation aligned with their values. When 50% of votes have zero effect on election outcomes, as happens under FPTP, we have a serious democratic deficit.
Fair Vote Canada advocates primarily for MMP or STV - both proven systems that would work well within our Westminster parliamentary tradition while ensuring every vote counts.