www.pialberta.org: Democratize Electoral Politics

"We believe that the government which represents the authority of all the people, not just one interest group, but all the people, has an obligation to actively -- underscore actively -- seek to remove those obstacles which would block individual achievement -- obstacles emanating from race, sex, economic condition."
Barbara Jordan, 1976

From their beginning, democratic systems were created with the intent to represent the people - the diversity, disagreement and disparity of the people. In order for government systems to function properly the wide diversity of voices in the population must be represented.

Today we are working with democratic mechanisms created in the 19th century. Mechanisms which took into account the large rural ridings and the huge distances between people. The mechanism may have been representative at the time, but many are asking if yesterday’s system represents today’s people.

If we look at the last election in Alberta 61 Progressive Conservatives were elected with 47% of the vote, while 4 New Democrats were elected with 9% of the vote and 17 Liberals were elected with 29%. In fact, 15% of Albertans voted for parties that did not even make it to the Legislature. Many advocate for a more proportional approach in our electoral system to ensure the elected body represents the diversity of the votes cast.

Public Interest Alberta’s Democracy Task Force asks if the first-past-the-post electoral system is still allowing full representation of the people. Many democracies across the globe have asked this same question and have instituted reforms to ensure their electoral systems allow the full representation of the diverse populations.

Canadian Initiatives

Library of Parliament Overview on Electoral Reform Initiatives in Canadian Provinces

British Columbia

Citizen’s Assembly website

Assembly Final Recommendations – Making Every Vote Count

CBC coverage of the BC vote on proportional representation

Ontario

Secretariat on Electoral Reform

The Citizen’s Assembly in Ontario

Citizen's Assembly Final recommendations - 1 Ballot, 2 Votes

TV Ontario talks electoral reform

Ontario students discuss electoral reform