Democratic Voting System Campaign

Advocating for representative, democratically elected, governments

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Key Links

Stop Snap Elections Fund
Please print and use Good Government sticker/door sign
Call on the politicians that represent you to Make the Democratic Good Government Pledge
Fixed Election Date court case (archive website)
Summary of Research Paper on Initiative, Referendum and Recall Process for Canada (by Duff Conacher (Democracy Watch’s Founding Director), published in the University of Toronto Law Review, 1991)

Campaign News

Lawsuit against B.C. Premier’s 2020 snap election call in appeal court today

October 19, 2023 10:37AM

Toronto mayoral by-election undemocratic and unfair in many key ways

May 31, 2023 5:16AM

Democracy Watch in court Monday afternoon appealing ruling that stopped case challenging Trudeau’s 2021 snap election call

February 13, 2023 2:25AM

Read all campaign news

Voter Rights Campaign 1993-2011 archive (archive website)

The Opportunity

More and more Canadians are realizing that our current election voting system usually produces governments that give one party too much power, and so are some politicians — in February 2012, federal Liberal Party leadership candidates Justin Trudeau and Marc Garneau both proposed changing to a more democratic voting system.

The Trudeau Liberals initiated a process in spring 2016 to change the federal election voting system, following up on their 2015 election promise. The question is whether the Liberals will follow through if a majority of Canadians clearly indicate that they support specific changes to the current system.

The New Brunswick Liberal government has also initiated a process to review the provincial election voting system, as has the PEI government.

In B.C., the Liberal Party held a consultation process on changing the voting system, and held a referendum on the issue in May 2005 and in May 2009 (the same time as the provincial election). In Ontario, the Liberal Party held a similar consultation process and referendum on changing the voting system. The governments of Québec and Prince Edward Island have also undertaken reviews of their voting systems.

Politicians across Canada need to hear from as many voters as possible to ensure they make changes that are in the interests of voters, not in the interests of politicians.

Background

Voting System Reform

Canada has an electoral system that consistently misrepresents the Canadian public and denies Canadians the right to have their vote count! The system at the federal level, and in all the provinces, is based on the British model known as first past the post (FPTP).

Under this system Canada is divided into a number of single-member voting districts (also known as “ridings”). At the federal level, there are currently 301 seats in the House of Commons (the elected house of Parliament), and various numbers of seats in each provincial legislature.

In an election, the candidate who gets the largest number of votes in each of these districts wins the election, and a seat in either Parliament (at the federal level) or in the provincial legislature.

Unfortunately, this system can lead to some very surprising, and fundamentally undemocratic, results! The main criticism of the FPTP voting system is that a candidate does not necessarily need to win a majority of the votes to win the seat, and usually, if there are 3 or more candidates in the district, the winning candidate does not win a majority of the votes. As a result, often political parties in Canada win a majority of seats in an election and form the government and have all the power (because the party controls a majority of seats in the legislature), even though the party only won the support of a minority of voters.

Other common criticisms of the FPTP voting system are that it effectively denies smaller parties fair representation in the legislature, it exaggerates the support of larger parties, and it exaggerates the support of parties that have support only in one province or region of Canada.

In addition, it often forces voters to vote for their 2nd choice candidate in order to ensure that a candidate they definitely don’t like loses. For example, imagine if a voter has 3 candidates to choose from in his/her district in an election, from political parties A, B, and C, and the voter wants to vote for the candidate from party A. If the promises and platforms of parties A and B are more similar than then platform of party C, then voters that vote for the candidates from parties A and B may split the vote (for example, 31% for the party A candidate, 33% for party B), allowing the candidate for party C to win the election with support from only 36% of the voters. The voter can only help prevent party C from winning by voting for his/her 2nd choice, the candidate from party B.

A study by the Institute for Research on Public Policy released in July 2000 found that 49% of Canadians find the current voting system unacceptable, compared to 23% who favour the current system.

A survey conducted in late 2001 by the Centre for Research and Information on Canada found that 37% of eligible voters who did not vote in the November 2000 federal election did not vote because they felt that their vote would have no effect and they did not like the choices of candidates and parties.

As an appointed body, the federal Senate of Canada of course presents a different problem for Canadian voters. Unelected, unaccountable, and sometimes simply unworthy of the appointment, Senators have more policy-making power than they usually acknowledge, and are less representative than they usually claim.

When the federal government finally tackles the key issue of changing our voting system to ensure a more accurate representation of the popular vote and regional interests in the federal Parliament, turning the Senate into an elected body (or abolishing it altogether) is one of the key changes to be made.

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Hello,

I called on political party leaders and parties, especially Ontario Premier Doug Ford who is trying to stop voting reforms by municipalities in Ontario, to change the voting system to make it democratic (as set out below), and require or at least allow municipalities to change their voting system to a ranked ballot or other more democratic system.

I call on all political parties across Canada to make changes to make all election voting processes democratic by enacting the following measures:

pass an honesty-in-politics law that allows anyone to complain to an independent watchdog about a broken election promise, with high fines for party leaders and parties that break promises unjustifiably;
create a right to refuse to cast a ballot (as Ontario and Alberta voters have) or even better put a “none of the above” on the ballot (with space at the bottom to give 1-2 reasons why), and require the election agency to promote this right as much as every other voting right, and to report how many Canadians do so (so voters can, if they want to, send a clear message that they do not support any of the candidates or political parties in an election);
change the election voting system to provide a more accurate representation of the popular vote results in each election in the seats held by each party in the federal House of Commons and in the provincial legislatures (as in many other countries) while ensuring that all elected officials are supported by, and are accountable to, voters in each riding/constituency (with a safeguard to ensure that a party with a low-level, narrow-base of support does not have a disproportionately high level of power in Parliament), and change the voting system in municipal elections to a ranked ballot or similar system ensure each elected councillor is supported by a majority of voters;
change the law to actually fix federal election dates (given that the federal Conservatives’ bill passed in May 2007 was not detailed enough to restrict the Prime Minister’s power to call snap elections, and the fixed election date measures in the election laws in all the provinces and territories are also not clear enough to restrict premiers);
require candidates and parties to disclose before nomination race, party leadership race, election and by-election voting days their list of donors and lenders, and donations and loans of money, property, services and volunteer labour (all of which should be limited to $100 per person with no donations or loans from corporations, unions or other organizations), and also require them to disclose before voting day their spending by campaign category, and whether they have worked or cooperated in any way with a third party interest group in the 6 months leading up to election day;
ensure the heads of all election agencies and election law enforcement agencies are appointed only after a public, merit-based search by an independent appointments commission (whose members are approved by at least a majority of leaders whose political party won 10% or more of the vote in the last election) that sends a ranked list of 3 nominees to the government, with the government required to choose from the list;
empower election agencies across Canada to make merit-based decisions about the participation of political party leaders in election debates, and require broadcasters to air the debates;
ensure politicians represent voters not party leaders by prohibiting party leaders from appointing candidates (with only a few justifiable exceptions, such as when the riding has no riding association), and by prohibiting party headquarters from making large donations or loans to candidates and riding associations (instead give riding associations a fair portion of an annual 50 cents to $1 per vote public financing for parties);
fix the dates of all nomination races, and empower election agencies across Canada to oversee nomination race and party leadership votes to ensure they are fair and democratic, and only allow citizens who are 18 or older and registered voters to vote in nomination and leadership contests (same as in elections);
give voters a clear right to file complaints, and require all election agencies across Canada to disclose all their rulings on every situation they review, including on complaints that voters file with them during and in-between elections, and give everyone a right to appeal a ruling to court, to ensure that election agencies are accountable watchdogs for fair elections, not lapdogs that ignore violations or make biased, unfair, or ineffective rulings;
ensure significant mandatory minimum penalties are in place to discourage violations of election laws, and to ensure that election agencies and the courts penalize violators effectively;
empower election agencies across Canada to set by-election dates, and require them to take into account fairness for all parties, and maximizing voter turnout, when setting dates;
require the media to report equally all survey numbers, especially undecided voters, to end the misleading reporting of polls often seen during election campaigns;
reduce voter identification requirements;
require all elections, by-elections and referendums to have a 65% voter turnout to be valid, and;
pass a law allowing petitions leading to referendums.

Until all of these measures are in place, and political ethics, transparency and waste-prevention rules and enforcement and penalties are strengthened, do not even consider mandatory voting (which violates voters’ rights not to vote for any candidate) or online voting (which can be hacked and therefore puts valid election results at risk) or lowering the voting age (as neuroscientists have shown that most people younger than 18 don’t have fully developed minds, specifically for making judgments).

Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.

Hello,
I called on political party leaders and parties, especially Ontario Premier Doug Ford who is trying to stop voting reforms by municipalities in Ontario, to change the voting system to make it democratic (as set out below), and require or at least allow municipalities to change their voting system to a ranked ballot or other more democratic system.
I call on all political parties across Canada to make changes to make all election voting processes democratic by enacting the following measures:
<ol>
<li>pass an honesty-in-politics law that allows anyone to complain to an independent watchdog about a broken election promise, with high fines for party leaders and parties that break promises unjustifiably;</li>
<li>create a right to refuse to cast a ballot (as Ontario and Alberta voters have) or even better put a “none of the above” on the ballot (with space at the bottom to give 1-2 reasons why), and require the election agency to promote this right as much as every other voting right, and to report how many Canadians do so (so voters can, if they want to, send a clear message that they do not support any of the candidates or political parties in an election);</li>
<li>change the election voting system to provide a more accurate representation of the popular vote results in each election in the seats held by each party in the federal House of Commons and in the provincial legislatures (as in many other countries) while ensuring that all elected officials are supported by, and are accountable to, voters in each riding/constituency (with a safeguard to ensure that a party with a low-level, narrow-base of support does not have a disproportionately high level of power in Parliament), and change the voting system in municipal elections to a ranked ballot or similar system ensure each elected councillor is supported by a majority of voters;</li>
<li>change the law to actually fix federal election dates (given that the federal Conservatives’ bill passed in May 2007 was not detailed enough to restrict the Prime Minister’s power to call snap elections, and the fixed election date measures in the election laws in all the provinces and territories are also not clear enough to restrict premiers);</li>
<li>require candidates and parties to disclose before nomination race, party leadership race, election and by-election voting days their list of donors and lenders, and donations and loans of money, property, services and volunteer labour (all of which should be limited to $100 per person with no donations or loans from corporations, unions or other organizations), and also require them to disclose before voting day their spending by campaign category, and whether they have worked or cooperated in any way with a third party interest group in the 6 months leading up to election day;</li>
<li>ensure the heads of all election agencies and election law enforcement agencies are appointed only after a public, merit-based search by an independent appointments commission (whose members are approved by at least a majority of leaders whose political party won 10% or more of the vote in the last election) that sends a ranked list of 3 nominees to the government, with the government required to choose from the list;</li>
<li>empower election agencies across Canada to make merit-based decisions about the participation of political party leaders in election debates, and require broadcasters to air the debates;</li>
<li>ensure politicians represent voters not party leaders by prohibiting party leaders from appointing candidates (with only a few justifiable exceptions, such as when the riding has no riding association), and by prohibiting party headquarters from making large donations or loans to candidates and riding associations (instead give riding associations a fair portion of an annual 50 cents to $1 per vote public financing for parties);</li>
<li>fix the dates of all nomination races, and empower election agencies across Canada to oversee nomination race and party leadership votes to ensure they are fair and democratic, and only allow citizens who are 18 or older and registered voters to vote in nomination and leadership contests (same as in elections);</li>
<li>give voters a clear right to file complaints, and require all election agencies across Canada to disclose all their rulings on every situation they review, including on complaints that voters file with them during and in-between elections, and give everyone a right to appeal a ruling to court, to ensure that election agencies are accountable watchdogs for fair elections, not lapdogs that ignore violations or make biased, unfair, or ineffective rulings;</li>
<li>ensure significant mandatory minimum penalties are in place to discourage violations of election laws, and to ensure that election agencies and the courts penalize violators effectively;</li>
<li>empower election agencies across Canada to set by-election dates, and require them to take into account fairness for all parties, and maximizing voter turnout, when setting dates;</li>
<li>require the media to report equally all survey numbers, especially undecided voters, to end the misleading reporting of polls often seen during election campaigns;</li>
<li>reduce voter identification requirements;</li>
<li>require all elections, by-elections and referendums to have a 65% voter turnout to be valid, and;</li>
<li>pass a law allowing petitions leading to referendums.</li>
</ol>
Until all of these measures are in place, and political ethics, transparency and waste-prevention rules and enforcement and penalties are strengthened, do not even consider mandatory voting (which violates voters’ rights not to vote for any candidate) or online voting (which can be hacked and therefore puts valid election results at risk) or lowering the voting age (as neuroscientists have shown that most people younger than 18 don’t have fully developed minds, specifically for making judgments).
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.

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Key Links

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The Opportunity

Background