Abstract

While reform of Canada's electoral system has not yet occurred, it has been an ever-present, ever-potent topic in Canadian political science since the middle of the 20th Century. While there are aspects of First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) to be admired, its fundamental flaws cannot be ignored; the system encourages parties to exacerbate sectionalism, leaves far too many voters unrepresented, and too often allows for uncooperative governments. Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP), a form of Proportional Representation (PR), possesses the best aspect of FPTP, local representation and accountability, and amends its most serious flaws. MMP represents all votes cast, attenuates sectionalism, and creates diverse legislatures that incentivize cross-party cooperation far more than FPTP does currently. Canada is nearly a perfect country for MMP, and this system should be implemented for our federal elections.

Highlights

  • Reform of Canada’s electoral system has swung in and out of the political conversation for decades

  • While many voices have called for a change from our current First-Past-the-Post system (FPTP) to one that is proportional, the change they have sought for decades has never come

  • One proposed by Boix is that the old dominant parties will lose ground to new ones, leading them to implement proportional representation (PR) because it becomes the only way to hold onto seats.[30]

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Summary

Royal Military College of Canada

Federalism-e is an electronic student journal about federalism, multi-level governance, and intergovernmental relations put forth in collaboration between Queen's University and the Royal Military College of Canada. This annual journal will publish papers by undergraduate students, which are reviewed by an editorial board composed of their peers, in both English and French languages. It is a bilingual, undergraduate electronic journal with a mandate to provide a forum to encourage research and scholarly debate with respect to a wide variety of issues concerning federalism both within Canada and abroad.

Introduction
Attenuating Sectionalism
FPTP creates majority
Findings
Conclusion
Full Text
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