Should We Change How We Vote?: Evaluating Canada's Electoral System - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0773548823 ISBN 13: 9780773548824

Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2017

Synopsis

During the 2015 federal election, the Liberal Party pledged that, if elected, they would end the “first past the post” electoral system, where whichever candidate receives the most votes wins a riding even if they have not received a majority of all votes cast. In early 2017, the Liberals reneged on their campaign promise, declaring that there was a lack of public consensus about how to reform the system. Despite the broken promise - and because of the public outcry - discussions about electoral reform will continue around the country.

Challenging the idea that first past the post is obsolete, Should We Change How We Vote? urges Canadians to make sure they understand their electoral system before making drastic changes to it. The contributors to this volume assert that there is perhaps no institution more misunderstood and misrepresented than the Canadian electoral system - praised by some for ensuring broad regional representation in Ottawa, but criticized by others for allowing political parties with less than half the popular vote to assume more than half the seats in Parliament. They consider not only how the system works, but also its flaws and its advantages, and whether or not electoral reform is legitimate without a referendum.

An essential guide to the crucial and ongoing debate about the country’s future, Should We Change How We Vote? asks if there are alternative reforms that would be easier to implement than a complete overhaul of the electoral system.

About this title

About the Authors

Andrew Potter is assistant professor at the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada.

Daniel M. Weinstock holds the Katharine A. Pearson Chair in Civil Society and Public Policy in the Faculties of Law and Arts at McGill University.

Peter Loewen is director of the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0773548823
• ISBN 13: 9780773548824
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 248
• Editor: Potter Andrew, Weinstock Daniel, Loewen Peter