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FVC Report Documents Decades of Voting System Dysfunction

Fair Vote Canada calls on party leaders to state clearly whether they support or oppose the adoption of a fair voting system.

Fair Vote Canada today [January 9, 2006] released “Dubious Democracy: Report on Federal Elections in Canada from 1980 – 2004”. The 14 page summary report is available here (in pdf)



“This report provides a very concise overview of how our dysfunctional first-past-the-post system subverts democratic values, drives wedges between the regions, unfairly rewards and punishes various political viewpoints, and makes a mockery of representative democracy and government accountability,” said the report’s author, Larry Gordon, Executive Director of Fair Vote Canada.


The report reviews the performance of the voting system during the critical political era that saw the rise of the Reform Party and Bloc Québecois, the demise of the Progressive Conservative Party and the emergence of the Green Party.



“The data illustrate just how badly the voting system has warped our political arena,” said Wayne Smith, President, Fair Vote Canada. “Given the way the system treats voters, it’s not surprising 40 per cent of registered voters don’t vote—it’s surprising 60 per cent still do.”


Among the findings:

· In 2004, a half-million Liberal voters in Atlantic Canada elected 22 MPs, while more than a half-million Green Party voters across the country elected nobody.

· In 2004, in the prairie provinces, the Conservatives attracted twice as many votes as the Liberals but won seven times as many seats.

· In 2004, the NDP received far more votes than the Bloc Québecois, but the Bloc gained nearly three times as many seats and hold the balance of power.

· In 2004, thirteen Conservative MPs were elected in Saskatchewan, but none in Quebec, where almost twice as many people voted Conservative.

· In the last New Zealand election, 1% of the voters cast wasted votes that elected no one. In Germany, 4%, and Scotland, 6%. In the last Canadian election, 50% cast wasted votes.

· Among the provinces, Saskatchewan has the highest percentage of wasted votes, where voting has been a futile exercise for nearly six of ten voters.

· In recent decades, Canadians experienced only one legitimate majority government (Mulroney 1984). The remainder were phony majorities, including Jean Chretien’s 1997 government, elected by 38.5 per cent of the popular vote.

· In many provinces, when a party captures 50 to 55 per cent of the vote, that is enough to effectively wipe out representation for other parties. In 1997, half the voters in Ontario voted Liberal and elected 101 MPs, while the other half elected 2 MPs from other parties.

· PEI, Ontario and Alberta had the most distorted federal election results over the past twenty-five years.

· Canada now ranks 42nd among nations on the percentage of women serving in parliaments.

· In 1984, 37% of eligible voters voted for the winning party, and 25% did not vote. In 2000, 25% of eligible voters voted for the winning party, and 39% did not vote.

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Fair Vote Canada
26 Maryland Blvd.
Toronto, ON M4C 5C9

Phone: 416-410-4034
Fax: 416-686-4929

Email: info@fairvotecanada.org
Web: www.fairvote.ca

posted by Annamarie at 5:04 PM