With the precipitous decline of democracy in the United States, it is all too easy to ignore that Canada’s democracy is in decline as well. We ignore the signs at our peril.
Trudeau did not fail to bring in proportional representation. He campaigned with the intention of bringing in ranked balloting. Instead of forcing it through when he could, he sent it to committee where no consensus was reached. Instead of compromising with a small improvement the NDP flat out refused anything but proportional representation. With ranked balloting the NDP would consistently win more seats than they do now and we would have more minority governments where compromising would result in more progressive legislation.
This this this. So much this. Canadians do not understand just how catastrophic of a fuckup that was. The consequences of that have not yet been truly felt but it will be horrendous when they are. Canada’s electoral system is a goddamn joke and, in my opinion, is barely even a democracy at all because of it.
Just like the US, we are one 51% vote away from a bad actor gaining absolute power and tearing down everything Canadians have known and loved. Hell, even right now we have a majority government that the people did not vote for.
Literally the argument the article is criticizing. Don’t compare one country to another like that. Sure you can take specific examples of how something doesn’t work in certain circumstances, but doing a direct compare just to say “At least we’re not as bad as ____” is ultimately defeatist.
Excellent article. Thanks for posting.
Trudeau’s failure to bring in proportional representation will be a missed opportunity with severe consequences that most don’t fully appreciate.
Trudeau did not fail to bring in proportional representation. He campaigned with the intention of bringing in ranked balloting. Instead of forcing it through when he could, he sent it to committee where no consensus was reached. Instead of compromising with a small improvement the NDP flat out refused anything but proportional representation. With ranked balloting the NDP would consistently win more seats than they do now and we would have more minority governments where compromising would result in more progressive legislation.
This this this. So much this. Canadians do not understand just how catastrophic of a fuckup that was. The consequences of that have not yet been truly felt but it will be horrendous when they are. Canada’s electoral system is a goddamn joke and, in my opinion, is barely even a democracy at all because of it.
Just like the US, we are one 51% vote away from a bad actor gaining absolute power and tearing down everything Canadians have known and loved. Hell, even right now we have a majority government that the people did not vote for.
Our system is better than the US’s system. By just a hair but it is better, but yes we need election reform.
Literally the argument the article is criticizing. Don’t compare one country to another like that. Sure you can take specific examples of how something doesn’t work in certain circumstances, but doing a direct compare just to say “At least we’re not as bad as ____” is ultimately defeatist.
51% vote? More like 38-40% vote. That is all a party typically needs to be able to get a majority government.
Yeah he might’ve fucked the whole country on that one, but now he’s exclusive with Katy Perry so I guess he learned his lesson. /s