Should we change Canada’s voting system? City hall gathering says yes
Ending “first past the post,” lowering the voting age and online ballots were among the topics at an election reform ‘”town hall” on Sunday, hosted by MP Adam Vaughan.

thestar.com
By San Grewal
Sept. 25, 2016

In the last federal election Mary Oko had a dilemma: “I had a situation where I supported the party leader and the party, but I didn’t support the local candidate of that party.”

She was among the roughly 100 people who attended a town hall conversation Sunday hosted by Liberal MP Adam Vaughan on electoral reform, ahead of the expected tabling of a new bill by the federal government next year.

Everything from online voting, ranked ballots under various proposals, a more proportionally representative system, and even reducing the voting age was discussed inside Vaughan’s old battleground, Toronto City Hall’s council chamber.

“We are in a new century. It’s time for a refresh,” Vaughan, a former city councillor who now represents the Spadina-Fort York riding federally, told the audience.

A national referendum on getting rid of the current way we pick winners was one of the main topics. And Oko’s hope of being able to vote separately for Prime Minister and the local riding MP was another popular idea among many who attended.

The event was part of a series of public consultations being held in every riding across the country before parliamentary debate next year, when the government is set to introduce a new bill in the spring to deal with changes to the way Canadians vote in federal elections.

Will Molls told the Star he would like to see the voting age reduced to 16. “If you’re old enough to work and pay taxes, you deserve to vote.”

He would also like to see a secure online voting option, along with the traditional paper voting method, to increase voter participation. But Molls, echoing many others, said the government’s priority should be getting rid of our first-past-the-post system.

Voting expert Dave Meslin, who is writing a book recommending changes to the current system, was invited to answer many of the questions. He gave first-past-the-post a failing grade.

“When the majority of people do not vote for the government that has ultimate authority, that’s called a coup in any other country. In Canada, we call it an election.”

To make his point about the need to get rid of the system used by all three levels of government in Canada, Meslin pointed out the low percentage of overall votes won by some current members of Toronto’s council. At least one member won with only 17 per cent of the vote in 2014.

He and others advocated for one of various systems that would incorporate ranked balloting, where voters would rank their preferences in order from first to last.

Ranked ballots effectively work like an election held in rounds - a method parties already use for selecting their leaders - where in each round the candidate with the fewest votes is discarded form the ballot until one candidate wins a majority.

It’s a method used all around the world, Meslin said. Canada is the only country of 35 in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) still using first-past-the-post for all levels of government.

Many in the audience criticized first-past-the-post for handing the advantage to elites tied to major political parties, which strategize not on the basis of policy, ideas or reflective representation, but around a numbers game designed to get just enough votes in just enough ridings to form the government.

Would Vaughan like a new system that makes federal politics more reflective of Canada’s diversity?

“It’s time for some change,” Vaughan responded to the Star’s question. “And I’m willing to see where that conversation takes us. There are a lot of components to balance, though, beyond just how we cast a ballot … I hear the criticism. You would like the city council of Toronto to look like (the diverse riders on) a subway train.”

Vaughan stressed that properly representing Canadian values, including diversity of thought, gender equality, ethnic diversity and other nuances, requires more than figuring out the best way to vote.

“Diversity in politics is much, much more about the process by which we govern and how we include people in that process than it is about simply the way we cast our ballots,” Vaughan said.

But he acknowledged criticism of the current system.

“When we reform the system, do we need to do it with an eye to making sure we have a more representative democracy? Absolutely, that’s part of the fundamental reason why we’re doing this.”