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  • Electoral Reform

    In addition to Senate reform, what does everyone think about how we elect the House of Commons? Should we keep FPTP? Use Single Transferable Voting? Proportional Representation (with our without minimum percentages to obtain a seats?)? Something else?

  • #2
    I'm an American, but I think the House of Commons should be modeled after the US House of Representatives, with regards to the proportion of representatives each province has in the lower branch, with the multiple-member district model. The Canadian Senate should be popularly elected, using the US Senate as a model, with a somewhat proportional system but designed in such a way that the small provinces also have a voice in the legislative process.

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    • #3
      Well, at the moment the House of Commons is set up like the US House of Representatives. As for the senate, I agree, although I am not sure it is politically viable because of the tremendous population imbalance: Quebec and Ontario have almost 2/3 of the population of Canada, meaning if they don't want a Senate with equal power for each province, it isn't going to happen. On the other hand, the current Senate gives a disproportionate amount of power to the Maritime provinces and deprives the West.

      But what I am interested in at the moment for this thread, is what people think of the way of electing representatives, not so much the distribution. Canada, the US, and Britain use First Past the Post, but because of the 2 party system in the US that usually leads to majorities. In Canada, vote splitting usually leads to seats being taken with a plurality but not a majority. This leads to people voting strategically. Is this the best system for Canada? Arguably it is. But I am not so sure. Single Transferable Voting seems like an interesting idea.

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