Picture It! Benefits of Proportional Representation

I was inspired to make these videos in the hope that showing the benefits of electoral reform with proportional representation would inspire you to support it. I used Golden Girl's Sophia's famous catchphrase "Picture It" to help communicate a vision of Canada with proportional representation. Each video is based on evidence.

Please help promote the benefits of proportional representation by sharing one, some, or all videos in this series of seven videos:

#1 Higher Voter Turnout 3-Jul-2021

#2 Diverse Representatives 10-Jul-2021

#3 Healthier Citizens 17-Jul-2021

#4 Social Trust 24-Jul-2021

#5 Strong Economy 31-Jul-2021

#6 Environmental Stewardship 7-Aug-2021

#7 Stability and Harmony 14-Aug-2021

#1 Higher Voter Turnout

I shared a preview of Picture It: Canada with Proportional Representation #1 High Voter Turnout with long time proportional representation (PR) supporter Lynn Oliphant. My heart was moved when he confessed he was saddened at the end because for a brief moment he had suspended disbelief. He had a vision of what Canada could have been with 100 years of proportional representation.

#2 Diversity

"Our voting system is crazy" said my young new neighbour recently as we talked politics. They support universal basic income (UBI) but have no hope of it becoming a reality. I do have hope that the candidate diversity evident in other countries using proportional representation will prove true in Canada. The perspectives and priorities of women and minority groups, including Indigenous people, would bring balance and fairness into the decision-making process about things like UBI. Diversity in representatives has proven to produce legitimate long-term laws and policies that represent and meet the needs of the full diversity of voters.

#3 Healthier Citizens

I received a phone call from a senior on a fixed income. They expected they would need to use the money diligently saved to celebrate their birthday for an unexpected prescription drug cost. I was heartsick.

Nine out of ten Canadians support the idea of pharmacare. Translated to our House of Commons, the recent pharmacare bill to establish a legal framework should have had 90% support. Was it defeated because our Members of Parliament are so whipped they do not represent their voters? Does our winner-take-all electoral system give Big Pharma a big whip to crack? Why does Canada remain the only country with universal healthcare and no universal pharmacare? Why can't we democratically allocate resources to ensure healthier citizens? What other health benefits enjoyed by countries with proportional representation might we gain with electoral reform?

#4 Social Trust

In Bowling Alone, author Robert Putnam writes "Trustworthiness lubricates social life.  Frequent interaction among a diverse set of people tends to produce a norm of generalized reciprocity." Putnam uses the term "social capital" to describe the wealth available to communities and countries with strong networks of relationships. Equality, a characteristic evident in countries with proportional representation, supports "interaction among a diverse set of people." Equality increases the sense of "us" and decreases the sense of "them" enhancing social trust.

#5 Stronger Economy

What is the latest example of policy lurch you can think of? For me, it is crime legislation. The 2012 Omnibus Crime Bill was "Tough-on-Crime." Even though the Canadian Bar Association and other experts tried their "darndest to get the Conservatives to listen to reason," the bill passed because the Conservatives held the majority of seats. Now the Conservatives are concerned that the Liberals will pass a "Soft-on-Crime" bill and are doing their darndest to get the Liberals to listen to reason. While crime legislation may appear unconnected to economics, the justice system—policing, courts, and incarceration, is a player in our economic system.

In countries with proportional representation, the proportion of power each party gets is relatively consistent. Their politics lean towards collaboration rather than competition. Progress can be made on issues like labour relations, corporate regulation, poverty reduction, and tax reform. Progress that is inclusive, informed, and long term. Progress that is good for business, labour, and the environment. Other countries using proportional representation enjoy stronger economic growth than countries using plurality-majority electoral systems like Canada's.

#6 Environmental Stewardship

Evidence shows that countries with proportional representation have stronger environmental policies. They score high for protecting the environment and other indicators of environmental stewardship. This is not because their citizens are more concerned about the environment but because citizens' voices influence policy. Planetary care for all is prioritized over corporate profit for the few.

Using Golden Girl's Sophia's famous catchphrase "Picture It", _#6 Environmental Stewardship_ imagines Canadians enjoying a host of benefits linked to strong environmental policy. It shows Canada experiencing a fair and just transition to renewable energy and securing environmental stewardship through social justice.

#7 Stability and Harmony 

"We can bomb the world to pieces, but we cannot bomb it to peace", lines from a Michael Franti song, has long been one of my favourite memes. While I envisioned many things for Canada in the previous videos this one is the biggest. What would happen if our government had to prove it had exhausted all non-violent alternatives to war?

While parts of my video are visionary, other parts are the reality in many countries with proportional representation. When the proportion of power between parties is stable, parties collaborate with each other to produce thoughtful, long-term legislation. Proportional representation's stability would allow our decision makers to focus on social justice, safety nets, and environmental stewardship. 

Ontario Liberal Karma: What Goes Around, Comes Around

The Ontario Liberal Party experienced its own form of Karma last week by losing not only the election, but official party status.

In 2007, the McGuinty Liberals promised a referendum on electoral reform. They held the referendum but posed a question that few would understand, including myself. They also did not provide funding or an educational program in inform people the importance of ER; it was designed to fail.

In the Ontario election, 52% of the votes casted were ineffective or wasted as result of our first-past-the-post electoral system. The Liberal suffered the most of the four main parties with 89% of their supporters’ votes being wasted.

Comparison of Ontario Election 2018

Ontario is now saddled by another false majority government, this time it’s the PCs that won the brass ring. Ontario has not had a true majority government supported by the voters since 1937 when Hepburn’s Liberals won a majority with 51.6% of the popular vote.

“The case for proportional representation is fundamentally the same as that for representative democracy. Only if an assembly represents the full diversity of opinion within a nation can its decisions be regarded as the decisions of the nation itself." ‒ Encyclopedia Britannica 

The Ford’s Conservatives enjoy a false majority via an outdated electoral system, therefore it is unlikely we will see any initiative to make the next election fairer to voters. 

Guest Blogger Dan Desson

Reducing Policy Lurch

John Thorton and Todd McKay wrote about the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) issue in the May 12 Shellbrook Chronicle. Together they provide an educational contrast.

 

John's letter presents a history of the STC under the Sask Party. Initially, a decrease in fares produced an increase in revenue. Yet, fare increases made it "too expensive for nearly 100,000 riders in five short years." John emphasizes that the STC is and should remain a public service.

 

Todd's article presents the case that the STC "didn't serve everyone even though we all subsidized it through our taxes."  He gives the example of the AV Transit company.  It may offer more timely and less expensive service between Martensville and Saskatoon. Todd concludes the STC is best privatized.

 

John's and Todd's writing reveal the potential policy lurches possible in our first-past-the-post electoral system. Imagine the next Saskatchewan government is pro-public services. We could lurch back to a public bus service.

 

 

 

When the seats in government are in proportion to the way people voted, there are fewer policy lurches. Proportional representation (PR) creates a cooperative decision-making process.  PR produces sustainable and durable policy outcomes. This is why over 80 democracies have evolved to some form of PR.

 

Evidence heard by the all-party electoral reform committee (ERRE) overwhelmingly favoured PR. Find your MP at http://tinyurl.com/memberbypostalcode.  Ask them to be a democracy hero by voting to accept the ERRE report at the end of May. Let's make every vote count federally, then provincially.

 

Nancy Carswell, Co-spokesperson Fair Vote Saskatchewan

Shellbrook, Saskatchewan

Proportional Representation and Pharmacare

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t just break a promise to the Canadian people when he recently abandoned electoral reform. He also abandoned his country to a costly pharmaceutical system that favours powerful drug companies at the expense of taxpayers, an advocacy group says.

Trudeau’s "appalling" reversal on February 1 makes it nearly impossible to achieve a vastly more efficient pharmacare program, despite 90 percent of Canadians wanting such a system, says Saskatchewan Fair Vote Canada (FVSK). "The majority of Canadians expressed their desire to see a more cooperative and inclusive form of politics in the House of Commons," when they voted for electoral reform, said FVSK co-spokesperson Lee Ward. But Trudeau’s flip-flop in support of the current electoral system will inhibit the formation and enactment of policies in the public’s interest.

National pharmacare programs already exist in advanced democracies with proportional representation – a more representative system achievable through electoral reform. Thus pharmacare systems in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland control drug costs and save their taxpayers huge sums of money. In Canada, that money goes to drug companies with lobbyists in Ottawa.

"Anyone’s spending is somebody else’s income," said Bob Evans, a Professor Emeritus with the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver School of Economics. "Universal pharmacare could save billions to Canadians, so there are powerful corporate interests that will do everything they can to make sure it does not happen."

An Angus Reid poll found 91 percent of Canadians support the idea of a national pharmacare program. But the national electoral system fails to represent Canadians' wishes, says the FVSK’s Nancy Carswell.

"If we had proportional representation, we could better turn this pharmacare concern into policy," Carswell adds. "Instead, we have a flip-flop. A two percent change of the vote can mean a 100 percent change in power and a counter-productive, 180-degree change in policy direction."

By contrast, proportional representation fosters political consensus-building, which in turn produces policies and laws that recognize "the rights and concerns of most Canadians," Ward says. The current systems disproportionately serves "a narrow subsection of electorally significant voters in a few key swing ridings."

Canada’s drug costs have quadrupled since the 1990s, according to study of the nation’s healthcare costs. Scandinavia’s pharmacare programs have prevented such increases, writes Anu Partanen, author of the acclaimed book The Nordic Theory of Everything.

"The most obvious advantage is that it helps the country control health-care costs by weeding out expensive yet ineffective treatments, or drugs that have a more affordable alternative," says Partanen.

Lead Now has a campaign focusing on Liberal MPs at https://act.leadnow.ca/democracy-heroes/.

FVSK encourages all voters to connect with their MP and insist the government keep its electoral reform promise to make every vote count. MP contact information available at http://tinyurl.com/memberbypostalcode.

Proportional Representation and Environmental Protection

Prince Albert, Saskatchewan – March 9, 2017 – Prime Minster Justin Trudeau repeatedly stated he would make 2015 the last federal election using first-past-the-post.  Fair Vote Saskatchewan (FVSK) intends to hold him to his promise. 

Canada uses first-past-the-post to elect members to the House of Commons.  This system works when only two parties are on the ballot.  With more than two parties, the winner does not need a majority of votes.  Since 1921, Canadian governments have been told that using first-past-the-post is undemocratic.

Trudeau's Electoral Reform Committee (ERRE) heard over 80% of its expert witnesses and open mic speakers endorse proportional representation to make every vote count. In September 2016, the Qu’Appelle Valley Environmental Association (QVEA) presented a brief to the ERRE.  It was titled "Protecting Canada's Environment Requires a Voting System Based on Proportional Representation (PR)."

The QVEA brief states that countries with proportional representation are stable and robust.  When a coalition government is formed, it is not as easy to lobby for or ram through a particular agenda.  For example, in 2012 the Harper government's phony majority easily gutted the Navigable Waters Protection Act. 

If the 2011 election had used proportional representation, the seats in the House of Commons would reflect how people voted.  The Conservatives would have had 127 seats not 166.  The 97 New Democrats, 56 Liberals, 17 Bloc Québécois, and 11 Greens seats could have voted down all or any of the omnibus bills.

The QVEA brief observes, "Environmental protection and ecological sustainability is less likely to be marginalized with [proportional representation], including when it involves a coalition government, than under a government like that of Harper which got majority power from minority support."

Co-chair of QVEA Jim Harding emphasizes, “Prime Minister to be, Trudeau, promised that we’d never again use the slanted, unfair, first-past-the-post voting system. We believed him. The all-party Standing Committee came together as non-partisans and did their work. Thousands of us presented and it became clear that it was time for Canadian democracy to grow-up and adopt a proportional system specifically designed to work for us. Such a system is more likely to bring the issues about which Canadians care, including environmental ones, into mainstream discussions. It would depolarize regional politics and better serve the country moving forward. Perhaps Trudeau wanted another outcome, but the Liberals are now making poor excuses for ignoring what Canadians said. There can be no excuses for Canada maintaining an unfair voting system.”

Co-spokesperson of FVSK Nancy Carswell said, "I had this naïve idea that if I told my MP about an environment issue based in evidence, then they would act.  I've realized we don't have government regulated industry but industry regulated government.  For example, documents obtained through the Access to Information Act show that the pipeline industry influenced the changes to Navigable Waters Protection Act.  The fossil fuel industry wants to hold us hostage.  Proportional representation is the best way to free ourselves and foster renewable energy."

FVSK encourages people call their MP daily (http://www.parl.gc.ca/Parliamentarians/en/members) and/or visit their MP monthly to hold them to their promise of electoral reform that makes every vote count.

Also, Leadnow is running a Vote Better campaign asking people to lobby their MP to be a "Democracy Hero" at >https://www.votebetter.ca/. 

Fair Vote Saskatchewan (FVSK) and the Qu’Appelle Valley Environmental Association (QVEA) believe that electoral reform with proportional representation would result in a fairer government and better environmental protection.  As shown here, although the Liberals could have formed the government in 2015, they would not have the majority of seats requiring them to collaborate.

FVSK Press Release

Dorito Democracy

The book The Dorito Effect proposes that the cause of our obesity epidemic lies in the food industry's fixation on mouth taste. Why do I specify mouth taste? Apparently other parts of our digestion system have "tastes" too. If these other tastes are not satisfied, we experience the Dorito effect and one Dorito becomes countless Doritos.

There is a parallel here to voting When we vote, we get a taste of power. Sadly, first-past-the-post voting is the equivalent of "mouth taste. It does not satisfy the needs of our democratic system. We can vote countless times and never count.

In 2016, the Electoral Reform Committee heard 88% of its expert witnesses and 87% of the people who stepped up to the mic say they believed a system of proportional representation would satisfy our democratic system.

In 2017, let's give our democratic system the proportional representation it needs to be healthy. Connect with our new Minister of Democratic Reform Karina Gould and tell her you want to experience how democracy tastes with a Canadian-made system of proportional representation. Email Karina.Gould@parl.gc.ca or phone 613-995-0881.

After experiencing a healthy democracy for a few elections, we could ask ourselves then if we wanted to return to a Dorito democracy.

Nancy Carswell, Saskatchewan Chapter Fair Vote Canada Co-spokesperson
Shellbrook, Saskatchewan

Show Confidence in Proportional Representation

Where do you want your doctor to place their confidence? In tradition, authority, or reason?  While tradition and authority do have roles in decision making, I want my doctor's decisions to be based in reason.

In Canada, we have a tradition of using first-past-the-post (FPTP) for electing our leaders.  The candidate in the electoral riding with the most votes wins.  The media authoritatively inform us that a party has won a majority.  They ignore the fact that the party has a majority of seats rather than a majority of votes.  

Repeatedly, FPTP produces a phony majority giving all power to one party so in the next election people vote them out rather than voting a party in.  This means a new government spends its energy and our tax dollars undoing what the last government did; only to have this process repeated when they are inevitably voted out. 

Countries with proportional representation avoid this counter-productive in-out pattern plus they produce high grades for voter turnout, women and visible minorities in government, income equality and strong economies, and, my priority, environmental protection.

The Liberals are mailing you an electoral reform postcard.  When you receive yours, place your confidence in reason, not tradition or authority.  Our democracy needs a system of proportional representation that means 40% of the vote results in 40% of the seats in the House of Commons—not 54% of the seats and 100% of the power.