SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 100

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 22, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 100 - Sep/22/22
Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)
  • Sep/22/22 10:06:53 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a huge privilege and honour to table a petition on behalf of constituents from my riding. They cite that Canada's electoral system, from its very inception, has always been a first-past-the-post system, unfairly resulting in either a Liberal or Conservative government with virtually no impact on the popular vote, leading to distorted Canadian values. They cite that proportional representation is a principle that says that the percentage of seats a party has in Parliament should reflect the percentage of the people who voted for that party, so if a party gets 40% of the popular vote, they should get 40% of the seats. They cite that under a first-past-the-post system, like the current system in Canada, a party can win a majority of seats and all the power with less than half the popular vote. They also cite that other countries, such as Germany, Italy, Ireland, New Zealand and the Netherlands, have progressed past the first-past-the-post system, and many states are seeking to implement ranked choice voting so that all votes are calculated. The petitioners are calling for the government to move to a proportional system.
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