Think it through

By the time the next federal election rolls around, set for Oct. 21, 2019 under fixed election date provisions, it’s likely Canadians will face a different voting process given new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed this past election would be the last featuring the so-called “first-past-the-post” system.
Many decry that under the current system, the ensuing make-up of the House of Commons doesn’t accurately represent how Canadians voted. A particular party often wins majority government status with less than 40 percent support—even though, by extension, more than 60 percent didn’t vote for them.
Is that a flaw of the system, though, or the fact we have four major parties in Canada—five if you count the Bloc Quebecois, which runs candidates only in Quebec. As such, it’s extremely difficult for any one candidate (let alone the party) to capture more votes than all the others combined.
Here in Thunder Bay-Rainy River, for instance, Liberal candidate Don Rusnak handily won the riding back on Oct. 19 with 18,523 votes—which was almost 6,100 more than incumbent NDP MP John Rafferty (12,439). But the combined votes for Mr. Rafferty, Conservative candidate Moe Comuzzi (8,876), and Green hopeful Christy Radbourne (2,201) totalled 23,516.
There’s been talk of proportional representation—in which the number of MPs reflects the percentage of the overall vote each party receives. But it’s unclear how that would work on a riding by riding basis.
The latest buzz is for some sort of preferential ballot system, in which voters would rank each candidate as first choice, second choice, third choice, etc. to determine the winner.
Really? It’s hard enough to get Canadians to come out to mark a single ‘X’ on the ballot. Now we want them to have to rank all the candidates in order, with failure to do so resulting in a spoiled ballot?
Voter turnout, which actually increased this past election, surely would drop off considerably.
The current system, despite its shortcomings, has served Canada well for almost 150 years. Does it need to be tossed out?
The other problem, of course, is how to decide which system to adopt. The governing Liberals are promising widespread “consultations” with Canadians but ultimately they’ll decide the issue arbitrarily under that route. Is that right?
The other option is a national referendum. Trouble is, if there’s more than two choices on the ballot, what happens if the “winning” system garners less support than the others combined?
Is that not precisely what we’re trying to change?
Canadians need to think through electoral reform much more carefully before any change is made.