Canada Day prescription by Elizabeth May
first published on Thursday, July 18th, 2013 in Island Tides
On my Canada Day travels, I was asked what I would change about democracy in Canada. There is so much wrong in the current state of politics that people might think there is no available remedy. The good news is that relatively few steps, none requiring major effort, but all requiring an engaged citizenry, can restore the body politic to health.
Here is my prescription for what ails Canada’s democracy. Let me know what you think!
First, get rid of ‘first-past-the-post’ and elect MPs, as is done in most modern democracies, by some form of proportional representation. Make sure every vote counts so voters feel the impact of their vote. Thanks to first-past-the-post, in 2011, a minority of voters elected a majority government. Such ‘false majorities,’ as University of Toronto Professor Emeritus Peter Russell has dubbed them, … Continue reading