The 2021 Canadian Federal Elections have concluded for us Canadians, and more importantly, I’ve started my final year of PLP and high school. One would assume that change is on the horizon, but as far as this election is concerned, not much really did change. The Liberal party has re-secured another minority government, with the conservatives being the opposition, it is also important to note that the PPC saw a significant growth of seats acquired, make of this what you will. I would say that this is the most controversial and interesting chance that has happened with the results of the election.

 

I am not here to talk about the results though, I am here to point out what I view to be a flaw in our electoral process. In Canada, parties select representatives known as Members of Parliament (MPs) to run for election in different regions across the country, members of parliament, if elected, work with their communities to voice their concerns in parliament, and work with their party to voice their ideology. If an MP is elected they win their party a seat in parliament, the party with the most seats will form the government and their leader will be appointed Prime Minister. If a party wins more than half of the seats it is known as a majority government, if it wins the majority of seats but less than half it is known as a minority government, which is where our current government falls under. MPs do not have to agree with their party or their leader all the time and usually don’t, this is where the problem arises, voters should not have to choose between voting for an MP or voting for a leader. To illustrate this, I interviewed 3 different age groups of people and asked them if they have ever felt conflicted about voting for an MP that is inherently attached to their party leader. 

A voters relationship to an MP is vastly different from their relationship with a party leader, a voter may resonate with a Conservative MP but believe a Green leader is more fit for the role of Prime minister, I don’t believe we should abolish a prime ministers or MPs attachment to their party’s but I do believe that we should have a separate vote for each. Some may argue that this  would slow down an election process too drastically but I would argue that the opportunity cost of losing that time will be regained by voters voting more fit MPs and Leaders when they are not so attached to one another, the amount of desirable MP candidates we lose to their attachment to a leader (and vice versa) has lead voters to forget about how important both are independently. 

 

If we separate the votes, I believe it will allow us to select the best MPs and Leaders for us, although I don’t reasonably believe this radical of political reform is plausible in the near future, I also don’t believe this to be, necessarily, the right answer, I aim to just point out the attachment of MP and Leader to be a problem. I hope perhaps we as a society can take incremental steps towards the best answer to the dilemma of voting between an MP. 

As always, thanks for reading, and have a wonderful rest of your day/evening.