See, first-past-the-post is working again now

In June 2015 the Liberal Party released a position paper :

“We are committed to ensuring that 2015 will be the last federal election conducted under the first-past-the-post voting system.”

and Justin Trudeau took that campaign promise on the road.

At the time the Liberals were 3rd in the polls :

NDP - 32.6%    CPC - 28.6%   LPC - 26.3%

The Liberal majority now rests on 43 MPs whose margin of victory is less than 5%.

Before the election Fair Vote Canada asked all MPs to pledge that campaign promise. NDP did because it is part of party policy; CPC did not because it is not.

The following list of Liberal MPs, some of whom campaigned aggressively on that issue, answered ‘Yes’ when asked before the election if they feel :

"the number of MPs elected to Parliament from each party should be roughly proportional to the number of votes cast for that party’s candidates.":

Cabinet ministers in bold: 

Candidate                            Riding                                         % Margin of victory 

BC

John Aldag                        Cloverdale-Langley City, B.C.          10.7

Terry Beech                       Burnaby North-Seymour, B.C.          6.5

Ken Hardie                         Fleetwood-Port Kells, B.C.              17.6

Joyce Murray                     Vancouver-Quadra, B.C.                  32.9

Carla Qualtrough              Delta, B.C.                                       16.3

Harjit Sajjan                      Vancouver-South, B.C.                    14.9

Jonathan Wilkinson            North Vancouver, B.C.                     29.8 

Jody Wilson-Raybould     Vancouver-Granville, B.C.               17.0

Ontario

Omar Alghabra                    Mississauga, Ont.                           21.1

Leon Alleslev                       Aurora-Richmond Hill, Ont.              2.1

Shaun Chen                         Scarborough North, Ont.                20.8

Neil Ellis                               Bay of Quinte, Ont.                         16.4

Nathaniel Erskine Smith      Beaches-East York, Ont.                 18.6

Karina Gould                      Burlington, Ont.                                3.5

Patty Hajdu                         Thunder Bay-Sup North, Ont.         21.8

Andrew Leslie                      Orléans, Ont.                                   28.8

Lloyd Longfield                    Guelph, Ont.                                    22.8

Karen McCrimmon              Kanata-Carleton, Ont.                     12.1

David McGuinty                   Ottawa South, Ont.                         48.5

John McKay                         Scarborough-Guildwood, Ont.       33.5

Catherine McKenna           Ottawa-Centre, Ont.                         4.2

Maryam Monsef                 Peterborough-Kawartha, Ont.          8.7

Jennifer O’Connell               Pickering-Uxbridge, Ont.                12.1

Rob Oliphant                        Don Valley West, Ont.                     16.2

John Oliver                           Oakville, Ont.                                    6.9

Anthony Rota                       Nippissing-Timiskaming, Ont.         22.6

Kim Rudd                             Peterborough South, Ont.                 2.9

Raj Saini                               Kitchener Centre, Ont.                    18.4

Sonia Sidhu                         Brampton South, Ont.                     17.1

Marwan Tabbara                  Kitchener South-Hespeler, Ont.        5.6

Anita Vandenbeld                Ottawa West-Nepean, Ont.             25.9

Arif Virani                             Parkdale-High Park, Ont.                  1.8

Quebec

David Lametti                      LaSalle-Émard-Verdun, Que.          14.9

Alexandra Mendès              Brossard-Saint-Lambert, Que.        25.7

Greg Fergus                        Hull-Aylmer, Que.                            19.9

PEI

Wayne Easter                      Malpeque, P.E.I.                               44.5

Lawrence MacAulay          Cardigan, P.E.I.                                48.8

Bobby Morrissey                 Egmont, P.E.I.                                  20.3

Amarjeet Sohi                     Edmonton Mill Woods, Alta.             0.1

Robert-Falcon Ouellette      Winnipeg Centre, Man.                    26.5

Jim Carr                              Winnipeg South Centre, Man.         31.5

Matt DeCourcey                  Fredericton, N.B.                              20.9

Darrell Samson                    Sackville-Chezzetcook, N.S.           13.6

Ironically, it is first-past-the-post that allows these MPs to now ignore that campaign promise.

h/t Anita Nickerson and Kelly Carmichael at FairVote for poster and stats respectively.

Hill Times : Liberal MPs concerned about PMO’s handling of electoral reform and cash-for-access issues, say Grit sources

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Electoral Reform Road Trip

Last week IPSOS passed on their rather depressing survey news to the ERRE committee that only 3% of Canadians were following electoral reform at all closely and those 3% were mostly wealthy educated older dudes.

Pretty sure that's going to change in the next few weeks. Here in BC, there's over 30 electoral events - the ones from today on are listed below. 

If you can't make any of these, you can host your own discussion group and make your own submission to the Electoral Reform Committee. FairVoteCanada supports any version of proportional representation and will provide you with materials for your discussion :

**A dialogue can be as small as two or three people getting together for coffee or as big as a community town hall, and anything in between!
**You can also conduct a dialogue at a meeting of an organization you are already involved in.
**The government has provided a list of questions they would like feedback on. All you need to do is discuss the questions in your group, have someone take notes, and submit your report to the committee by Oct. 7.

Or you can attend one of another dozen BC discussion groups FairVote helped organize that aren't on the list below.  

Don't know anything about electoral reform? Don't worry about it - we're all learning. Here's Stephen Harper's former chief of staff, Guy Giorno, on what's really important about it - making every Canadian vote count.

Meanwhile, Minister of Democratic Institutions Maryam Monsef has already kicked off her cross-country national electoral reform community dialogue tour: 

22 Local electoral reform events in BC from today onwards :

September 7th, 2016 - Federal electoral reform community dialogue tour with Minister of Democratic Institutions Maryam Monsef, 7:00 - 8:30pm, Saturna Island Community Hall, 109 East Point Road, Saturna Island, BC

September 7th, 2016 - Saturna Island Electoral Reform Townhall with MP Elizabeth May, 7:00 - 8:30pm, Saturna Island Community Hall, 109 East Point Road, Saturna Island, BC

September 7th, 2016 - Electoral Reform Town Hall with MP Alistair MacGregor, 6:00 - 7:30, Cowichan Campus Lecture Theatre, 2011 University Way, Duncan, BC, RSVP

September 7th, 2016 - Town Hall in Terrace with MP Nathan Cullen, 7 pm - 9 pm, Terrace Arena Banquet Room, 3320 Kalum St., Terrace, BC

September 7th, 2016 - Electoral Reform Town Hall with MP Gord Johns, 7:00 PM, Parksville Community & Conference Centre, 132 East Jensen Avenue, Parksville, BC.

September 8th, 2016 - Federal electoral reform community dialogue tour with Minister of Democratic Institutions Maryam Monsef, 7:00pm-9:00pm, Kitimat Riverlodge, 654 Columbia Ave West, Kitimat, BC

September 8th, 2016 - Town Hall in Kitimat with MP Nathan Cullen, 7 pm – 9 pm, Kitimat Riverlodge, 654 Columbia Ave West, Kitimat, BC

September 8th, 2016 - Electoral Reform Townhall with MP Gord Johns, 7:00 PM Florence Filberg Centre 411 Anderton Avenue, Courtenay, BC

September 9th, 2016 - Federal electoral reform community dialogue tour with Minister of Democratic Institutions Maryam Monsef, 7pm-9pm, Sandman Hotel, Vancouver City Centre Ballroom, 180 West Georgia Street Vancouver, BC

September 9th, 2016 - Town Hall in Smithers, with MP Nathan Cullen, 7 pm - 9 pm, The Old Church, 1st Ave at King St., Smithers, BC

September 10th, 2016 - Electoral Reform Town Hall with MP Rachel Blaney, 1:30 - 4:30 pm, Comox Community Centre, 1855 Noel Avenue, Comox, BC

September 10th, 2016 - Fair Vote Canada is hosting a town hall on electoral reform with panelists from all political backgrounds, including NDP MP Murray Rankin, former Liberal candidate David Merner, Conservative commentator Bruce Hallsor and Green Party member Adam Olsen. Saturday, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm. Nellie McClung Branch of Greater Victoria Public Library, 3950 Cedar Hill Rd., Victoria, BC. Contact: Mark Jeffers 

September 11th, 2016 - Electoral Reform Townhall with MP Sheila Malcolmson & MP Nathan Cullen, 11:30 am to 1:30 pm, Doors at 11am. Malaspina Theatre (Building 310) Vancouver Island University, 900 Fifth St Nanaimo, BC RSVP

September 12th, 2016 - Electoral Reform Town Hall – Have Your Say in MP Richard Cannings, 7 pm - 9 pm, Penticton library auditorium, 785 Main Street, Penticton, BC

September 12th, 2016 - Office of Jonathan Wilkinson, MP Electoral Reform Town Hall, Monday , 7 - 9 pm Pipe Shop Building, 15 Wallace Mews Road, North Vancouver, BC. RSVP: democraticreformnorthvan.eventbrite.ca.

September 12th, 2016 - Mayne Island Town Hall with MP Elizabeth May, MP, 18:30, PDT Mayne Island Community Centre, 493 Felix Jack Road, Mayne Island, BC

September 13th, 2016 - Pender Island Town Hall with MP Elizabeth May, 18:00 PDT, Pender Island Community Hall 4418 Bedwell Harbour Road, Pender Island, BC

September 15, 2016 - Campbell River Town Hall on Electoral Reform with Elizabeth May and Megan Dias from the Centre for Democratic Institutions, University of B.C. 18:30 PDT, Campbell River Museum, 470 Island Highway, Campbell River, BC 

September 16th, 2016 - Salt Spring Island Town Hall with MP Elizabeth May, 18:00 PDT Multi-purpose Room, G.I.S.S. 232 Rainbow Road, Salt Spring Island, BC

September 17th, 2016 - Electoral Reform Town Hall with MP Rachel Blaney, 1:30 - 4:30 pm, Dwight Hall 6274 Walnut St, Powell River, BC

September 18th, 2016 - Dialogue on Electoral Reform from 3:00pm-5:00pm at Creekside Commons, 2201 Lambert Drive, Courtenay, BC

September 24th, 2016 - Electoral Reform Town Hall with MP Rachel Blaney, 1 - 3 pm, Port McNeill Community Hall, 1473 Broughton Blvd, Port McNeill, BC

September 24th, 2016 - Electoral Reform Town Hall with MPs Alistair MacGregor and Randall Garrison, 2:00 - 3:30, Community Commons Belmost School, 3041 Langford Lake Rd., Langford, BC, RSVP

And don't forget the Electoral Committee also wants to hear from individual Canadians via their E-CONSULTATION. 

If I missed your group or got something wrong, please leave me a correction in comments. Thank you.

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Hey, federal political parties - this is how it's done.

In three days Albertans go to the polls. Here's how that's looking as of yesterday according to 308 :

May 5 Update : 308 has updated Vote and Seat Projections - now even higher for NDP.
    and the results :

As part of his election platform, Calgary-Klein Green Party candidate Noel Keough made a great case for raising corporate taxes in Alberta - the lowest in the country - by just 2% in order to raise $12-billion annually for Alberta's decimated public coffers : 



An environmental design prof at the University of Calgary, he also put forward solid policy on fossil fuels and advocates a PropRep voting system replacing first-past-the post - the better to more fairly represent Albertans.

But then he looked at the very close polling for his riding, and at an all-candidates debate in Calgary two days ago, Keough announced his decision to step out of the race and support his NDP rival rather than split the vote. Notable that he referred to this decision as a party decision. Keough : [bold:mine]

"So, with a heavy heart, but a firm conviction in my decision I am stepping out of the race immediately and putting my full support behind the New Democratic Party and their candidate Craig Coolihan. The policies of the NDP are not in perfect alignment with The Green Party but they are the most closely aligned. A win for the NDP in Calgary-Klein will advance Green principles and will make Alberta a better place to live."

Putting your constituency and province ahead of the party system - what a novel idea.
People have said the Greens couldn't have won the seat anyway. Not the point. Keough did the one thing he could within his power to help voters avoid splitting the vote by trying to guess how they should vote strategically.

Well, federal NDP, Libs, and Greens? We're waiting for a sign you plan to follow Keough's example here.

As Canadian Cynic observed : "forget strategic voting, here's strategic candidacy."

As for the rest of us, support for Prop Rep should be the line-in-the-sand litmus test for whether we support a local candidate.  Between election fraud and the Stephen Harper the Economist's disastrously incompetent corporate-driven fiscal policies, we just can't afford another unrestrained and poisonous first-past-the-post 24% minority misrule. 

FairVoteCanada is soliciting citizens in all ridings across Canada to get local candidates of all parties to sign a pledge to support PropRep so we'll know who we can afford to vote for before the next election. Go. Sign up to do it.

Meanwhile, a Globe and Mail editorial from the very paper which has endorsed Harper in every election since 2006 is now shilling for Prentice : For Alberta, Jim Prentice is the best choice.

I only mention this entirely unsurprising endorsement so you can enjoy the thorough shellacking they get for it in comments.

The Edmonton Journal editorial: 
In this election, we are picking a CEO for the province makes the same mistake and gets a similar shellacking.

And then there's the threat from five CEOs in the Edmonton Sun : Corporate business leaders warn of risks to Alberta NDP government : "We won't make donations to charities."
Think the commenters under that threat aren't pissed?

"In response, NDP leader Rachel Notley pointed out the donations of the five businessmen to the PCs in the past five years have topped $86,000 collectively."

ObligaTory shot of then Minister Jim Prentice with PMO fraudster and "special adviser to Minister Prentice" Bruce Carson above.

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Prop Rep vote in the House tomorrow

[post updated below]

Here's what the last federal election results would have looked like under Prop Rep 

as compared to what we got with First Past the Post :

Although the Cons increased their vote percentage by less than two points, this was enough to give them 24 more seats than in 2008, when they were already over-represented anyway.

From Fair Vote Canada via email :

Fair Vote Canada has just learned that NDP Democratic Reform Critic Craig Scott will introduce the following motion for PR to the House of Commons tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday December 3).

That, in the opinion of the House:

 (a) the next federal election should be the last conducted under the current first-past-the-post electoral system which has repeatedly delivered a majority of seats to parties supported by a minority of voters, or under any other winner-take-all electoral system; and 

(b) a form of mixed-member proportional representation would be the best electoral system for Canada."

There will be a two-hour debate 3:15 to 5:30 EST. The vote will occur at 6:45 PM EST

We need you to contact your MP now! Find your MP's phone number and email here.  

The NDP has committed to implementing Mixed Member Proportional Representation if elected in 2015, with an all-party and citizen task force to create the best design. MMP with open, regional lists (meaning, all MPs are elected by voters and all MPs are local) is the model recommended in 2004 by the Law Commission of Canada. Eight provincial commissions have also recommended MMP.

The Green Party also supports implementing proportional representation before 2019. 

The Liberal Party of Canada is calling for an all-party process involving citizens and experts to look at all electoral reform options - including other winner-take-all systems and proportional systems - in the first 12 months following the 2015 election. 

Background:
There are two major families of voting systems in the world: Proportional, and Winner-take-all ("majoritarian/plurality"). All evidence indicates that to replace one winner-take-all voting system with another is simply to replicate almost every problem we face now with first-past-the-post. 10 commissions, 14 years of polls, and decades of research says Canada needs a more proportional solution.

Proportional representation is based on a couple of key principles: 

a) Voter equality - your vote should count towards electing a representative you want, and
b) if a party earns 30% of the popular vote, they should earn roughly 30% of the seats.

There are a variety of ways proportional representation could be designed for Canada. Fair Vote Canada does not endorse only one proportional system.

Regardless of whether your MP supports Mixed Member Proportional in particular, please urge them to vote YES to this motion if they support the premise that every vote should count. Amendments to motions are possible and a yes vote to this motion will open the door for a process to design the best electoral system for Canada, consistent with Fair Vote Canada's 2015 campaign. Achieving PR will require parties working together in an all party process.

This motion is a reflection of the momentum that is building across the country for votes that count. We need as many MPs to speak in favour of proportional representation as possible to move this issue forward now.

Please take a moment to let your MP know that you want him or her to be a strong voice for proportional representation. 

Thank you for helping us Make 2015 the Last Unfair Election!

Fair Vote Canada

{end of email}

Maybe if we didn't have a system that coerces us into tactical or strategic voting, we could vote for who we really wanted, and knowing that our votes actually counted for something might get more than 61% of us to show up to vote. 

Wednesday Update : Motion defeated 166 to 109. 

Yeas - All NDP plus Greens Elizabeth May and Bruce Hyer, Bloc Claude Patry and Louis Plamondon, and Independents Brent Rathgeber, Maria Mourani, and Manon Perreault. 

Nays - All Cons, plus Independents Scott Andrews and Massimo Pacetti 

16 Libs voted Yea - Mauril Bélanger, Carolyn Bennett, Scott Brison, Rodger Cuzner, Stephane Dion, Kirsty Duncan, Wayne Easter, Mark Eyking, Hedy Fry, Ted Hsu, John McCallum, David McGuinty, John McKay, Joyce Murray, Frank Valeriote, Adam Vaughan

15 Libs voted Nay : Justin Trudeau, Gerry Byrne, Emmanuel Dubourg, Judy Foote, Chrystia Freeland, Marc Garneau, Ralph Goodale, Yvonne Jones, Kevin Lamoureux, Dominic LeBlanc, Lawrence MacAuley, Geoff Regan, Francis Scarpaleggia, Judy Sgro, Scott Simms

Half the Libs - aka the Nays - would prefer a preferential ballot system, an alternative but slightly more democratic winner-take-all system similar to first past the post. And here's why ...

On Power and Politics tonight, Eric Grenier of 308dotcom laid out what seat count the three different systems would deliver, according to his current polling. 

Note these figures above are only based on polls.

[Edited to correct omission of Manon Perreault]

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Prorogue This! Vancouver rally photos

(click photos to enlarge)

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Canwest : Thousands turn out for Vancouver rally to protest PM Harper's decision to prorogue Parliament.

"Thousands", says Canwest. 25,000 nation-wide.

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And look at all those handmade signs!

Very upbeat mood throughout, passing cars honking their support, people cheering us on out of office windows. Felt great to be out on the street with Canadians who give a damn.

Notable that of the speeches given at Victory Square, the loudest and most sustained applause greeted Fair Vote Canada Shoni Field's call for electoral reform

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Many thanks to University of Alberta grad student Christopher White who started the whole thing rolling with just a page on facebook, now numbering over 213,000.

And to all those talking heads who assured us nightly on the evening news that Canadians could care less that a single MP who happens to be the PM dismissed parliament via a phone call to the GG - you helped more than you know.

All in all a great day for democracy in Canada.

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Lolsy Update : Naturally some Con supporters are now requiring proof that the rallies along with their extensive media coverage are not just some kind of elaborate leftie hoax.

Steve must be so proud.

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Election "08 - Proportional representation chart

This chart shows how many seats each party would have received under proportional representation in yesterday's election.

From Fair Vote Canada :
"Once again, Canada’s antiquated first-past-the-post system wasted millions of votes, distorted results, severely punished large blocks of voters, exaggerated regional differences, created an unrepresentative Parliament and contributed to a record low voter turnout."

The chief victims of the October 14 federal election were:

- Green Party: 940,000 voters supporting the Green Party sent no one to Parliament, setting a new record for the most votes cast for any party that gained no parliamentary representation. By comparison, 813,000 Conservative voters in Alberta alone were able to elect 27 MPs.

- Prairie Liberals and New Democrats: In the prairie provinces, Conservatives received roughly twice the vote of the Liberals and NDP, but took seven times as many seats.

- Urban Conservatives: Similar to the last election, a quarter-million Conservative voters in Toronto elected no one and neither did Conservative voters in Montreal.

- New Democrats: The NDP attracted 1.1 million more votes than the Bloc, but the voting system gave the Bloc 50 seats, the NDP 37.

“How can anyone consider this democratic representation?” asked Barbara Odenwald, President of Fair Vote Canada.

Indeed.

Now just imagine how much higher voter turnout would be if more people could depend on their vote actually counting for something.

In 2002, Elections Canada hired Decima to do a survey of over 5000 Canadians on their satisfaction with our current electoral system, including roughly equal amounts of voters and non-voters.

70% were either "Very supportive" or "Somewhat supportive" of the introduction of proportional representation :

Instead, we get this :

along with some self-serving rhetoric from rich old white guys about how a proportional representation system would be "disfunctional", exactly the same reason the same guys gave for calling this last election.

We can either support the aims of Fair Vote Canada or we can watch that wiggly black line in the above graph continue its downward trend towards less than 50% participation in elections.

Electoral reform deniers

Remember this?

That third column of numbers is how our government would look today if we had had proportional representation during the last election, based on the percentage of votes cast for each party in January 2006. Results? Fewer seats for the Libs, the Cons, and the Bloc; more for the Greens and the Dippers.

Back in Dec., NDP MP Catherine Bell put forward a motion for electoral reform.

Last week she expressed her displeasure with the rightwing think tank the Cons chose to oversee it :

"MP Catherine Bell has revealed in Question Period this week that the Conservative government has contracted out public consultation on electoral reform to a right wing think tank that opposes electoral reform. 

In an exchange with the Minister for Democratic Reform, Bell said, “Let me introduce him to his new friends, the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, a neo-Conservative think tank against the idea of climate change. They want a private health care system. They like the idea of bulk water exports and they think trans fats are okay. Guess what? They are opposed to electoral reform. A special interest group has already hijacked the process”.

“This is cynical politics of the worst kind,” said Bell. First, the government should trust the work of Parliament’s own Committee and agree to engage in that process. But to hire a group that is publicly opposed to electoral reform is beyond the pale.” "

Gosh, who are the Frontier for Public Policy?

Their website does seem to be unusually full of global warming denial articles, but that only makes sense really when you consider that Tim Ball is on their board of the Research Advisors.

Plus there's

• Brian Lee Crowley, the guy behind the Atlantica concept.
• Wendell Cox, who wrote "The Wal-Mart Revolution: How Big-Box Stores Benefit Consumers, Workers, and the Economy."
• David Henderson of the American Enterprise Institute.
• Johan Hjertqvist, private health care advocate.

And many more all-too-familiar corporate shills.

Lots of interesting articles on their site too :

"Natives Don't Want Self-Rule"
"Vote For Choice In Marketing Barley"
"Like It or Not, Here Come Private Clinics"
"Global Warming Hypocrites"

Go check out their website.

After all, these are the guys the Cons have chosen to guide consultations on our electoral reform process, and they report privately to the Minister and not to parliament.

Minister Van Loan defended the Con government’s contracting out the consultation process with these words:

“the consultation that has begun is one that is designed to be representative of all Canadians and is a process that will do that without allowing the process to be hijacked by special interest groups.”

By "special interest groups", I'm guessing Van Loan must mean people who are interested in electoral reform.
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Proportional representation of a different kind

Campaign donations to BC's top three parties 1996- Oct 2004 :

BC Liberals $41,735,398
Corporate and business share..............69%
Individual donations share..................28%
Labour donations share........................--

BC NDP $27,260,960
Corporate and business share................3%
Individual donations share...................87%
Labour donations share........................9.5%

BC Greens $665,517
Corporate and business share.................2.5%
Individual donations share....................97%
Labour donations share.........................---

List of donors and their contributions at BCFacts.org

Electoral system pop quiz

Here's two lists of selected countries. One group elects their government using a first-past-the-post winner-takes-all system and the other group uses some variation of proportional representation. Which group do you think Canada, the US, and the UK fall into?

Group 1
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Botswana, Congo, Dominica, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Group 2
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Venezuela.

Yup, our first-past-the-post system puts Canada, along with the UK and US, in Group 1.
We really need to get on this before 2008.

Update. To the person who emailed me to complain that I had cherry-picked the two groups to highlight a black countries vs white countries bias : No, the two groups highlight a generally right vs left bias.
I just got tired of hearing it said that if we have a similar electoral system to the US and UK, we're probably doing alright.

From Fair Vote Canada :

"Had the same votes been cast under a proportional voting system, Fair Vote Canada projected that the seats allocation would have been approximately as follows:

• Conservatives - 36.3% of the popular vote: 113 seats (not 124)
• Liberals - 30.1% of the popular vote: 93 seats (not 103)
• NDP - 17.5% of the popular vote: 59 seats (not 29)
• Bloc - 10.5% of the popular vote: 31 seats (not 51)
• Greens - 4.5% of the popular vote: 12 seats (not 0)

However, Smith emphasized that speculation should be tempered. "With a different voting system, people would have voted differently," he said. "There would have been no need for strategic voting. We would likely have seen higher voter turnout. We would have had different candidates - more women, and more diversity of all kinds. We would have had more real choices."

"The voting system really matters a lot and the system we have is simply not acceptable in a modern democracy." "

Proportional representation, anyone?

In the riding next door, 63% of the voters chose Lib, NDP, or Green.
63% of the total votes were "wasted" under the 'first past the post' system.
Think any of these libs, greens, or dippers are happy about being represented by a conservative?
One argument against "prop rep" is that it might allow a "fringe" candidate to get elected.
Under first past the post, 63% of this riding got fringed.