Question

What is your opinion on Canada's voting system? Comment on how well (or not) the system satisfies some of Arrow's desirable features of a voting procedure. consider at least 2.

Answer 1

Although Canadians do not fully understand how federal governments are elected in Canada, they appear to want the benefits of both the current electoral system and of proportional representation (PR). In view of Canadians’ low awareness of electoral reform and the low priority they place on it, it is clear that this issue is far from having reached political maturity in Canada. But it is also clear that the seeds of public discontent exist and that Canadians have great sympathy for the concept of PR.

With the increasing regionalization of Canadian federal politics since 1990, the implications of Canada’s first-past-the-post election system upon smaller parties have become increasingly evident. The disparity between the portion of the vote received by smaller parties and their representation in the House of Commons has become even more stark, leaving certain provinces without significant representation in the government. Moreover, the fracturing of the opposition has significantly reduced the possibility of a change of government, further highlighting the disproportionate power which Canada’s parliamentary system awards to a single national party when there are no other large national parties.