Electoral reform gets mixed reviews from social conservatives

Christian Heritage Party has always supported proportional representation

OTTAWA (CCN)

Social conservatives have a mixed response to the Liberal promise to replace Canada’s first-past-the-post voting system with a form of proportional representation.

A Parliamentary electoral reform committee has been holding hearings, with a deadline of October for submissions. It is expected to table a report on December 1st.

The Christian Heritage Party has always supported proportional representation, said its leader Rod Taylor. “The first-past-the-post system has its defects. As the people, we don’t always get good representation. That’s part of the human condition. People don’t vote for what they want or understand the issues.”

“The first-past-the-post system resulted in the government we now have, which most of us in the prolife movement are unhappy with, he said. Without changes to the system, there is no guarantee “this country will come out of the deep hole into which we’ve fallen.”

“This is the one spot, we felt, if they do it right, could result in positive change,” he said.

A proportional voting system could give more power to small parties such as the Christian Heritage Party, by making it more likely they could win a seat in Parliament. Instead of the winner-take-all, even if he or she does not have a majority of votes in a first-past-the-post system, seats are awarded according to a formula related to the proportion of the vote a party receives.

Taylor points out there are many different models of electoral reform. He likes what former Liberal leader and political scientist Stephane Dion, who is now Foreign Affairs Minister, had proposed in 2012 for FairVote.ca as the “3P model: proportional, preferential and personal.”

Instead of individual geographical ridings, there would be districts that would have five MPs who would be elected based on their proportion of the vote. Voters would also have a preferential ballot, where they would rank the candidates. If their favorite party or candidate did not get enough votes, their vote would go to their second place candidate. They could also choose a personal favorite candidate among those a party puts forward. Because of Canada’s large size and geographic diversity, some districts might have four MPs, or fewer, if there is a lack of population density.

Critics of proportional representation point out how extremist parties can often hold the balance of power, when no one party is able to gain a majority. Campaign Life Coalition Ottawa lobbyist Johanne Brownrigg noted a prominent columnist for a national newspaper asked if those seeking electoral reform wanted to risk having “anti-abortionists” holding the balance of power in Ottawa.

But Campaign Life, the political arm of the prolife movement, is not advocating for change in the voting system, though individual members may have varying opinions.

“Our position on reform was stated back in 2007,” Brownrigg said. “It has not changed. As far as we’re concerned it’s not electoral reform but political reform we need.”

“It’s not a different system of choosing our MPs,” she said. “We need more informed and engaged voters

“We personally think this change in the system would ensure a permanent Liberal government and it would make it difficult for the Conservative Party to ever win a majority again,” said Brownrigg. “We’re not here to shill for the Conservatives, but at this point this is the only major party that will allow prolife MP to run.”

Taylor acknowledges changing the first-past-the-post system, which can allow a majority government to form with only 39 per cent of the popular vote, would make it difficult for Conservatives to ever form a government.

“This is a big change,” Taylor said. “We don’t know what the change will be. We’re glad the government is looking at that, but we don’t deny they have their partisan reasons for looking at it.

Taylor noted Conservative MPs are “particularly critical,” because they believe “the government will use electoral reform as a cover for instituting a system that will entrench them in power forever.”

The Conservative Party has called for a referendum on electoral reform. Both Taylor and Brownrigg agree a referendum should precede any changes.

In July, however, Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef told the electoral reform committee the government has a mandate to make the changes since 63 per cent of Canadians had voted for parties advocating for change in the voting system.