Social Trust

 "PICTURE IT" #4 SOCIAL TRUST: CANADA WITH PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

Picture it— Canada 2004. There is no need for the independent Law Commission of Canada to conduct a three-year study on electoral reform and recommend proportional representation. There is no need because 1921 was the last election using the undemocratic, unfair, first-past-the-post system. Like other countries using proportional representation, Canada ranks high for income equality and other indicators of well-being.

Canadians enjoy a host of benefits linked to income equality. The benefits include higher life satisfaction, better physical and mental health, better social mobility, fewer children in poverty, fewer teenage pregnancies, less crime, and less incarceration. Central to all these is a sense of trust that is commonly low in winner-take-all electoral systems. People in more equal societies trust each other more. Trust leads to goodwill, compassion, and connectedness. These in turn lead to more community involvement and civic participation. Community involvement and civic participation generates more trust creating a virtuous cycle.

Canadian voters trust proportional representation to distribute power fairly so no one income group has power over the others.

If you wish this picture were true, help make it true. Support electoral reform with proportional representation.

View the video at #4 Social Trust.