Is There Any Issue With Our Election System?

As an immigrant from Taiwan, I can tell there are significant differences between elections in Taiwan and Canada. People in Taiwan are a lot more into politics. In fact, voting rates in Taiwan is higher than Canada. Every time there is a new election coming up in Taiwan, you can see groups of people walking around the city, wearing identical t-shirts that represent a party of their choice; you can see trucks driving 24 hours a day around your neighbourhood, playing political ads out loud to get you vote; elections in Taiwan is like a sport or carnival that most adults participate.

(Canada, speech after election)

(Taiwan, speech after election)

I felt like it is a different story in Canada. I didn’t realize we were having election until it was the time to take our student votes. As I studied through government and election system in Canada, I realized there are some differences between election in Taiwan and Canada. Election in Taiwan is based on citizen votes, the candidate who gets most votes wins; election in Canada is based on ridings, which means it is possible to lose an election even if you have more votes. Today I would like to share with you my observations on Canadian election system. But to understand how election functions, we first need to know how the government is structured.

Structure of Government

Candian government can be described as constitutional monarchy (or parliamentary democracy). Constitutional monarchy means we have a king or queen as our head of state, but with limited power. Parliamentary democracy means people can elect government officials to represent them. The word “democracy” comes from Greek. It simply means “rule by people”. Here is an excellent chart from PLP that summarized principles for a democratic government.

For effective management, government is split in to three levels: Federal, Provincial and Municipal. The Federal government handles national issues such as, foreign affairs and trades, national defence, currency, passport and immigration. Members of the Federal level is called member of parliament or MP. The leader of MPs is known as the Prime Minister.

(Picture Source: the Canadian Encyclopedia)

The Provincial government manage regional issues such as education/healthcare delivery, natural resources, and highways. Members of the Provincial level have different names depend on where you live. Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA); Member of Provincial Government (MPP); Member of the National Assembly (MNA); and Member of the House Assembly (MHA). Leader in the Provincial level is called Premier.

(Detail explanation about Legislative Assembly here)

The Municipal government make decisions on local issue, for examples: waste management, local police, public transportation, water supply, and zoning areas. Members of the Municipal level is usually called Counsellor or Alderman. And their leader is the mayor. Under the Federal government, there are in total 13 Provincial governments and 3700 Municipal governments

What is more important than this system is the people behind it. The process of selecting candidates is called election.

Elections

Election happens every four years, but the Prime Minister can call an election any time in that period. Canadian citizens over the age of 18 years old, can vote for a candidate who would best represent their interest. Most of the candidates belong to a party, but they can also be independent as well. Parties are groups of people who have similar belief and want to rule the government. Each party has their own political platform, which communicate with people their goals and point of view. After election, the candidate with most votes in a riding wins election.

Picture Source: https://liberal.ca

Ridings are smaller political zones based on population. In the House of Commons, there are 338 seats, each seat represents a riding. The party with the most seats wins the election and the party’s leader will become the Prime Minister. The entire election system is called “First Past the Post”, also known as FPTP.

(Riding map from Wikipedia)

The Issue with Election System

Let’s go back to our driving question: What is the issue with our election system? More specifically, what is the issue with First Past the Post (FPTP)?

Wasted Votes:

One of the most significant issue is FPTP can misinterpret majority’s voice. Based on the latest election result, Canada had re-elected Justin Trudeau as the Prime Minister. But you might notice Liberals actually had less vote comparing to Conservatives. Here is a diagram that explains what waste votes is about.

(Source from: Favorite.ca)

Same was true for Student Votes Canada 2021. I was surprised how Liberals had won more seats, especially when you compare Liberals to NDP and Conservatives. Another point I found it hard to believe is the Green Party has less seats than Bloc Québécois. As you can see in the chart below, the Green Party had a lot more votes than Bloc Québécois.

(From Student Vote Canada)

How could this happen? Well, it is because Bloc Québécois is more dominant in some riding areas. Under this system, your votes won’t count if you vote for a candidate who didn’t win the election.

Geographical Issues:

Another issue I discover is that different riding represents different number of voters. This could lead to a statement that not all votes are truly equal, because each riding counts as one seat, no matter how many people it represents. One of the most important principles in order for a country to be democratic is free and Fair election. I do not believe this system is fair because it fails to represent what majority is in favour of. This election system is misleading in a sense that majority is defined by elected seats, but not popular votes.

Potential Solutions

We now realized the issues with FPTP, but how do we solve them? The geographical issue could be solved by dynamically adjust riding areas based on population. Except protected groups, we can use AI assist programs to track population in each riding areas, then adjust riding areas based on population. Under this proposal, each riding represent equal number of voters. Which will better represent entire nation’s voice.

Fortunately, there are many thoughtful ideas on how to improve the election system. Here are some video that explains other possibilities to adjust the current election system, such as proportional representation, approval and instant run-off.

(Proportional representation)

(Plurality, Instant Run-off & Approval)

Conclusions

Although the FPTP system is not perfect, government officials are elected by citizens. A significant benefit with a democratic government is that everyone can help to improve the society. Government could also be a platform for us to influence and improve the society. If you are interested about political parties, I have a more detailed post on that. I hope this post gives you a better understanding of how governments and elections function.