Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau promised electoral reform and changes for a fair and open government if his party wins the October federal election.

Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau promised electoral reform and changes for a fair and open government if his party wins the October federal election.
Photo Credit: Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press

A Liberal leader would change electoral system

If elected, the leader of Canada’s Liberal party, Justin Trudeau would work quickly to change the way the federal government is elected.

Canada now has a first-past-the-post electoral system. In every riding, it is the candidate with the most votes who will represent the constituency in Parliament. The party with the most elected candidates forms the government, regardless of the overall percentage of votes it obtained.

Trudeau would rather a system which uses a preferential ballot or proportional representation. In a preferential system, the voter can rank the candidates in order of preference. With proportional representation, seats in Parliament are allocated based on the number of votes each party garnered.

Current system more stable?

First-past-the-post provides more stability, say some analysts, adding that proportional representation results in more coalition governments, since more parties are likely to win seats. Israel is one example of this type of government, where small extremist parties may wield considerable power by threatening to leave coalition governments which might then fall. Canada currently has 18 registered political parties.

A Liberal government led by Trudeau would launch a parliamentary study of the different electoral systems and enact reform within 18 months. Trudeau also promised more disclosure of government information and more independence for the members of Parliament.

All parties engage in pre-election posturing

All parties have made a flurry of announcements before the House of Commons breaks for the summer, and before the official election campaign begins leading up to an October national vote.

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