03/06/2025
By Fair Vote Canada in the Toronto Star:
๐๐ง ๐๐ง ๐๐ฅ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐, ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐, ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐
๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ
โProgressive Conservatives to look for common ground with other parties after winning 40% of seats.โ Thatโs what should have been the headline last week โ and what would have happened if the results had given Ontarians what they asked for.
Thanks to our archaic electoral system, Doug Ford was able to claim a โstrong mandateโ with his 43 per cent vote share โ of the 45 per cent of eligible voters who even showed up.
Our current system, dubbed first-past-the-post, elects a single winner in each riding, leaving the voters who supported other candidates (often the majority) without a representative who shares their priorities. First-past-the-post always gives a generous seat bonus to the largest party โ a fact the PCโs were no doubt counting on when they cynically called this election sixteen months early.
For Canadian politics to be fairer and more representative of voters, we must adopt a proportional system.
After all, instead of public outcry, the unnecessary Ontario election and its results were met with a collective shrug. Voters are so used to parties gaming our first-past-the-post system that they hardly notice it anymore.
But the consequences of an unfair and disproportional voting system arenโt a political game โ they matter to the lives of citizens in Ontario.
Ask a nurse. Ask a teacher. Ask the family of someone who had a stroke and arrived at the emergency room to discover it closed. Ask the 25-year-old who says thereโs no point in voting, because it doesnโt make any difference anyway.
Meaningful debate in Ontarioโs election was close to nil, and one could be forgiven for thinking that was just fine with the major parties. With the exception of the Ontario Green Party, they didnโt even offer voters their platforms until just days before the election, after the advance polling had already started.
With no time to compare proposals, voters were left with slogans, colours, personalities and strategic voting websites to motivate them.
Faced with reams of polling data, party strategists knew that the battle between Marit Stiles and Bonnie Crombie for second place was of little consequence. The heated competition for strategic votes was driven by optics: each wanted to be able claim after the election that their own party is best placed to defeat Doug Ford next time. Of course, next time in first-past-the-post usually just means a false majority.
While all parties have suffered grossly distorted results at the hands of first-past-post in the past, the Liberals took a beating again this time. The NDP got 27 seats with 18.6 per cent of the vote, reclaiming the Official Opposition status, white the Liberals, with 29 per cent of the vote, got just 14 seats.
Green voters, as usual, were also punished by our winner-take-all system: 240,000 Green voters elected just two MPPs.
If Ontario had proportional representation, each partyโs voters would be represented fairly according to their share of the vote. A party with 40 per cent voter support would win 40 per cent of the seats โ and then look for areas where they can compromise with other parties to pass legislation.
Research shows that countries with proportional systems not only have stronger democracies, they have higher economic growth, healthier citizens, a stronger social safety net, and better environmental protection.
Proportional representation can have a huge impact on solving long-term problems. Sharing power forces parties to co-operate and find common ground to create lasting solutions. Under winner-take-all voting, small steps forward are frequently reversed almost overnight by the next false majority government.
As the political situation around the world deteriorates, PR has also been shown to reduce polarization and provide a bulwark against extremism. Only winner-take-all voting would allow, say, an extremist to capture the leadership of a major party and enable that party to win all the power with a minority of the vote.
When it comes to the many crises facing Ontario โ the housing crisis, the health care crisis, the climate crisis, or making our economy less reliant on the US โ a collaborative, long-term approach supported by a majority of voters has never been more critical.
Isnโt that what most of us are really voting for?
Itโs time for parties to put Ontario citizens first and to finally show courageous and principled leadership. We need them to work together to implement proportional representation โ for the common good.
๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ข ๐๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐น๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ช๐ณ ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข. ๐๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข ๐๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ช๐ณ ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ดโ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐จ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
