Citizenship and Democracy: A Case for Proportional Representation

Eric P. Mintz is an associate professor of political science at Sir
Wilfred Grenfell College, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

In this revised master’s thesis, former B.C. MLA Nick Loenen makes a
strong case for changing Canada’s single member plurality (SMP)
electoral system. In addition to advancing the familiar argument that
Canada’s electoral system results in very distorted representation and
encourages regionalism, Loenen points out that the SMP electoral system
facilitates executive dominance of government, thereby making
“responsible government” a myth. A proportional representation (PR)
system would increase diversity in parties and choice for voters. By
encouraging coalition governments, a PR system would shift the basic
style of politics from being adversarial to consensus-oriented.

In keeping with his belief that legislators should be more independent
and responsive to the electorate, Loenen advocates the adoption of the
single transferable vote (STV) version of PR. This would allow voters to
rank their preferences among candidates rather than vote for a party.
Although STV is an interesting alternative, Loenen’s analysis of it is
limited. In his sketchy discussion of Ireland’s experience with STV,
Loenen argues that Ireland and Canada are not comparable, and therefore
that Ireland’s problems with STV are irrelevant to any discussion of
its suitability in the Canadian context. The other major experience with
STV—elections for the Australian senate—is not discussed at all.