It has been four years since Canadians heard Justin Trudeau vow, just after learning he would become the next prime minister, that the 2105 election would be the last fought under the first-past-the-post system.
Of all of the promises broken by the Liberals (and let me be fair, they fulfilled some big ones: marijuana legalization, carbon taxes to fight climate change, the Canada Child Benefit), I believe their failure to fix the electoral system was the most egregious.
Yes, it has been frustrating to watch a pledge to eventually end multi-billion-dollar deficits vanish into fairy dust. But, in that case, the pain is dull and long-term.
The unfair method Canada employs to elect its federal leaders, on the other hand, hits like a hard jab every four years, or sooner if no party is given a majority, and its repercussions continue through the life of the elected government.
As we approach voting day, it is clear that either the Conservatives or the Liberals will have the most seats when the votes are counted.
If I have any advice to political parties this week, with the election just days away, it would be to please do the right thing and fix our democracy.
That means, right now, Canadians whose political leanings are to the right of Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer or to the left of Trudeau, and who live in ridings where the race between local candidates is tight, are doing their calculations.
By not repairing the electoral system, Trudeau is forcing them to make an unfair choice between the candidate they prefer and the candidate who could strategically stop an unpalatable party from winning.
Trudeau broke his promise because he could not convince the other parties to endorse a ranked-ballot system – one that is marginally more fair than the current system but that would have helped guarantee Liberal governments in perpetuity.
He picked up his marbles and went home. And, in doing so, he abandoned any hope of seeing proportional representation introduced to Canadian voters before the 2019 election.
Yes, PR is complicated. Yes, it is a concept that has failed in multiple provincial plebiscites because it is easy for opponents to demonize. Yes, it makes it more likely that fringe candidates will win a couple seats. And yes (and this is the thing that really bothers politicians), it makes it more difficult for anyone to win a majority of seats, which means parties must learn to function as minority governments.
So what? That is democracy. It is messy.
If I have any advice to political parties this week, with the election just days away, it would be to please do the right thing and fix our democracy.
It is a tough call, and one I do not expect any politician to have the courage to heed.
Even though the New Democrats have forever been advocates of PR, I strongly suspect a hypothetical NDP government of the future would abandon efforts to change the existing voting system because, after all, it got them elected.
But let’s look what Canadians get from first-past-the-post.
In 2011, we elected a “majority” Conservative government that received 39.62 per cent of the popular vote. In 2015, we elected a “majority” Liberal government that received 39.5 per cent of the popular vote.
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Majorities basically get to do what they want, unfettered by the opinions and concerns of Canadians. Yes, they must answer for their actions on election day. But then voters are again left with making their least-worst choice.
So we live with governments which enact policies that, in some cases, are supported by fewer than four in 10 Canadians.
More than that, the first-past-the-post system stifles democracy.
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Ottawa-Vanier, for instance, is the safest Liberal seat in the country. Why would someone living in that riding who doesn’t want to vote Liberal bother going to the polls? Why would someone who votes Liberal bother going the polls? Either way, they know their votes will have no effect on the outcome.
And with just a few days to go before the vote, I feel for Canadians who are not solidly in the Liberal or Conservative camps.
Those on the left at least have the comfort of knowing a minority could result in an agreement between the Liberals and one of the other left-leaning parties. That is a potentially democratic option, depending on the combined popular vote of the parties that agree to co-operate.
But there is no such solace for those on the right. If Scheer takes the most seats, but not a majority, he will fight to form government and could quickly be brought down because he has no ally in Parliament.
That would mean another election with Liberals and Conservatives hoping they will get a so-called majority (of seats, not necessarily votes). But, would it not be better to have a fair vote in the first place?
Ottawa freelance journalist Gloria Galloway has covered federal politics for more than 20 years.
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