Saturday, December 24, 2005
Political Extremism (First PAst the Post) VS Moderation (Proportional Representation)
The Basic Principles of PR
The basic principles underlying proportional representation elections are that all voters deserve representation and that all political groups in society deserve to be represented in our legislatures in proportion to their strength in the electorate. In other words, everyone should have the right to fair representation.
In order to achieve this fair representation, all PR systems have certain basic characteristics -- characteristics that set them apart from our current election system. First, they all use multi-member districts. Instead of electing one person in each district, as we do here in the U.S., several people are elected. These multi-member districts may be relatively small, with only three or four members, or they may be larger, with ten or more members. (The figures below illustrate districting maps for a hypothetical 50-person state senate. Figure 1 shows 50 single-seat districts, as is common with plurality-majority systems. Figure 2 depicts 10 five-seat PR districts, and Figure 3 shows 5 ten-seat PR districts.)
The second characteristic of all PR systems is that they divide up the seats in these multi-member districts according to the proportion of votes received by the various parties or groups running candidates. Thus if the candidates of a party win 40% of the vote in a 10 member district, they receive four of the ten seats -- or 40% of the seats. If another party wins 20% of the vote, they get two seats, and so on.
That, in a nutshell, is how proportional representation works. But while all PR systems have the same goals of ensuring that all voters receive some representation and that all groups are represented fairly, various systems do have different ways of achieving these goals. So it is helpful to see how different kinds of PR systems work in practice.
As far as I know the only party advocating Pro Rep is the NDP. On the other hand the NDP are also proposing the abolishment of the Senate. As the senate now stands I can't see this as a bad thing.
The Senate IMHO should be the great nation builder if it were in the style of a triple E Elected, Equal, and Effective. If this isn't to be since the Charlotte Town accord failed and all efforts to try and reform the senate have failed maybe it is time the senate was abolished!
Unless something is done either in the form of a Triple E senate or Pro Rep then this country as we know it will be torn apart bit by bit.
Personally I would rather see a triple E senate rather than Pro Rep. I don't see how Pro Rep is going to do anything to allieviate the democratic deficit in Canada, with Ontario having 106 seats out of 308. The Colonies of Ontario will continue to become more and more distraught with Canada and begin looking more and more towards seceesion.
While Pro Rep may make evey voters vote count it still only counts towards party politics and doesn't do anything to give voters more say in government if anything it gives voters less say depending on which system of Pro rep is used. IE: Closed Party list ballot takes away the choice of which candidates will be sitting in the house, with it being decided by the party. Not much different than it is now with the party faithfulls and rich choosing the party leaders.
The only way voters true wishes will ever be followed is if there are more free votes or more independants in the House since intergity and freedom of speech are second to the party line and hence personal aspirations versus candidates constituents sentiments.
As a side note Pro Rep may very well be good for federalism, at least in Quebec.
I can see why the NDP is championing this electoral reform they plus the other minor parties will be the ones who will gain the most from this electoral change, with very little being done to reduce the Democratic deficit and halt the empire building in favor of NAtion building.
Pro Rep IMHO is still a step forward toward a more democratic system, in combination with a Triple E senate I think would go along way towards making Canada a better place for all and not just the corporate types and Ontario!
Unfortunately the powers that be (106 seats in Ontario, 75 seats in Quebec, out of 308 in Canada) will never go for either of these changes because they stand to loss to much personally to the detriment of the people and the country unfortunately.
Such a SAD state of affairs! Unfortunately the peoples only options will either be secession and the break up off the country or all out revolt the later probably not even on the radar since we are such a vast and diverse country it will never come to be.
Oh well it wouldn't be so bad to be known as a Newfoundlander once again. I say Newfoundlander and not Newfoundland and Labradorian because I'm sure that with secession Labrador will want to become a territory and remain a colony of Canada? Mind you there is hope of Labrador wanting to stay with NFLD what with some of the recent developments of NFLD looking more towards Lab as our path to the future and becoming an intregal part of Canada with the TLH becoming a reality and interest being expressed in a fixed link to Labrador from NFLD to finally unite our divided province by name and geography.
The basic principles underlying proportional representation elections are that all voters deserve representation and that all political groups in society deserve to be represented in our legislatures in proportion to their strength in the electorate. In other words, everyone should have the right to fair representation.
In order to achieve this fair representation, all PR systems have certain basic characteristics -- characteristics that set them apart from our current election system. First, they all use multi-member districts. Instead of electing one person in each district, as we do here in the U.S., several people are elected. These multi-member districts may be relatively small, with only three or four members, or they may be larger, with ten or more members. (The figures below illustrate districting maps for a hypothetical 50-person state senate. Figure 1 shows 50 single-seat districts, as is common with plurality-majority systems. Figure 2 depicts 10 five-seat PR districts, and Figure 3 shows 5 ten-seat PR districts.)
The second characteristic of all PR systems is that they divide up the seats in these multi-member districts according to the proportion of votes received by the various parties or groups running candidates. Thus if the candidates of a party win 40% of the vote in a 10 member district, they receive four of the ten seats -- or 40% of the seats. If another party wins 20% of the vote, they get two seats, and so on.
That, in a nutshell, is how proportional representation works. But while all PR systems have the same goals of ensuring that all voters receive some representation and that all groups are represented fairly, various systems do have different ways of achieving these goals. So it is helpful to see how different kinds of PR systems work in practice.
As far as I know the only party advocating Pro Rep is the NDP. On the other hand the NDP are also proposing the abolishment of the Senate. As the senate now stands I can't see this as a bad thing.
The Senate IMHO should be the great nation builder if it were in the style of a triple E Elected, Equal, and Effective. If this isn't to be since the Charlotte Town accord failed and all efforts to try and reform the senate have failed maybe it is time the senate was abolished!
Unless something is done either in the form of a Triple E senate or Pro Rep then this country as we know it will be torn apart bit by bit.
Personally I would rather see a triple E senate rather than Pro Rep. I don't see how Pro Rep is going to do anything to allieviate the democratic deficit in Canada, with Ontario having 106 seats out of 308. The Colonies of Ontario will continue to become more and more distraught with Canada and begin looking more and more towards seceesion.
While Pro Rep may make evey voters vote count it still only counts towards party politics and doesn't do anything to give voters more say in government if anything it gives voters less say depending on which system of Pro rep is used. IE: Closed Party list ballot takes away the choice of which candidates will be sitting in the house, with it being decided by the party. Not much different than it is now with the party faithfulls and rich choosing the party leaders.
The only way voters true wishes will ever be followed is if there are more free votes or more independants in the House since intergity and freedom of speech are second to the party line and hence personal aspirations versus candidates constituents sentiments.
As a side note Pro Rep may very well be good for federalism, at least in Quebec.
I can see why the NDP is championing this electoral reform they plus the other minor parties will be the ones who will gain the most from this electoral change, with very little being done to reduce the Democratic deficit and halt the empire building in favor of NAtion building.
Pro Rep IMHO is still a step forward toward a more democratic system, in combination with a Triple E senate I think would go along way towards making Canada a better place for all and not just the corporate types and Ontario!
Unfortunately the powers that be (106 seats in Ontario, 75 seats in Quebec, out of 308 in Canada) will never go for either of these changes because they stand to loss to much personally to the detriment of the people and the country unfortunately.
Such a SAD state of affairs! Unfortunately the peoples only options will either be secession and the break up off the country or all out revolt the later probably not even on the radar since we are such a vast and diverse country it will never come to be.
Oh well it wouldn't be so bad to be known as a Newfoundlander once again. I say Newfoundlander and not Newfoundland and Labradorian because I'm sure that with secession Labrador will want to become a territory and remain a colony of Canada? Mind you there is hope of Labrador wanting to stay with NFLD what with some of the recent developments of NFLD looking more towards Lab as our path to the future and becoming an intregal part of Canada with the TLH becoming a reality and interest being expressed in a fixed link to Labrador from NFLD to finally unite our divided province by name and geography.
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