Poll: Merger support rises
Wood pellet exports double
Nearly $500K for car crash
Minister defends right to bail
Vise grips as steering wheel
$36M for vaccine injury 
New US rules for airlines 
Historic Trump hearing 
Pig kidney transplant 
Big loss for Boeing 
Metro sales edged higher
Retail sales slip 
Warriors snakebitten in loss
Iginla off to Europe
Rockets ink prospect
Perry teams with Lu Kala
Megan denies harassment
Swift ‘one of the family’
According to the 2017 federal Electoral Reform survey results, most Canadians want a political system that encourages cooperation over conflict. 70 per cent of respondents want a government where several parties agree before a decision is made. 62 per cent agree at least in part that it's better for several parties to govern together, even if it takes longer for the government to get things done.
We need then to consider the way in which our current voting system fosters political conflict over cooperation. A handful of votes per riding can swing an election. It is easy to attract this handful through fear mongering, mudslinging and negative attack ads that set neighbour and region one against the other. The reward for successfully promoting such divisiveness is 100% of the power, a total win with just a handful of votes in a few ridings and usually much less than 50% of the total votes cast. False majorities, that is majority governments elected with less than 50% of the popular vote, occurred in 13 of the last 17 federal elections since WW1.
Proportional representation voting systems (PR) on the other hand, encourage cooperation. A handful of votes does not distort an election outcome in a PR system. The number of seats gained in the legislating body by each party is proportional to the number of votes they won. For example, a party that receives 39% of the vote, as in the last two federal elections, would receive 39% of the seats. Rather than being effectively voiceless, as with our present system the majority 61% of voters would exercise their fair share of power.
Co-operating parties and politicians representing a true majority of voters would have to agree on major policy initiatives and govern together to bring them about. What could be more Canadian than a voting system that fosters compromise, cooperation and negotiation?
In 2018 we have the opportunity to make this happen by supporting a made in British Columbia voting system of proportional representation. We are ready!
Susan Young
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