This book is part of the Towards the New Millennium Series, featuring the works of thoughtful Canadians who are profoundly interested in the future of Canada and the world.
Most democracies do not use Canada’s "first past the post" voting system. To give a party more seats than its share of the popular vote warrants is deemed undemocratic by most. Such democracies use proportional representation to ensure a party’s seat-share does not exceed its vote-share.
Former MLA, Nick Loenen, examines what proportional representation can do for Canadian politics. He finds that a change to proportional representation holds the potential to involve citizens more meaningfully and give political parties a more significant policy development role. It would also move power from the prime minister’s office to Parliament, and from the premiers to provincial legislatures, shifting the focus in politics from leaders, style and images, to parties, principles and platforms.
Instead of the adversarial politics of confrontation, which aim to exclude and eliminate political opponents, proportional representation holds promise for a consensual, cooperative style of governing that includes a broad spectrum of political diversity.
The book also counters many popular misconceptions about proportional representation. It traces Canada’s most intractable political problems such as national unity, high taxation, government over-spending, excessive party discipline, the concentration of power in our leaders, and our peculiar archaic voting system. The end product is the most detailed analysis of the effects of proportional representation on Canadian politics ever published.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 328.3/347/0971
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 21
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- ISBN
- 9781554881338 1550022806
- LCCN
- JL167
- LCCN Item number
- L63 1996eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaOTU
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (192 p.)
- Published in
- Canada
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)thg00603100 (OCoLC)277740537 (CaOOCEL)410569
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaOTU
Table of Contents
- Table of Contents 6
- Acknowledgements 8
- Foreword 10
- Introduction 18
- CHAPTER ONE: DEMOCRACY 26
- Classical Liberalism, Self-Interest, and the Public Good 28
- Citizens: Private Persons with Public Duties 33
- Democratic Participation, Citizenship, and the Public Good 35
- CHAPTER TWO: REPRESENTATION 46
- Theories of Representation 48
- Popular Demands 57
- The Charter and Recent Court Rulings 62
- CHAPTER THREE: THE LEGISLATURE 70
- Responsible Government 71
- The Legislature in Practice 73
- Caucus, Party, and Elected Members 76
- “... In a Manner Responsive to Them“? 80
- CHAPTER FOUR: POLITICAL PARTIES 86
- CHAPTER FIVE: DEMOCRATIC REFORMS 98
- Direct Democracy 99
- Parliamentary Reform 104
- Summary and Transition 107
- CHAPTER SIX: TOWARDS DEMOCRATIC SELF-RULE 110
- Proportional Representation (PR) 110
- Objections Considered 114
- Single Transferable Vote (STV) 125
- CHAPTER SEVEN: IMPLEMENTATION 132
- The Legislature Revisited 133
- Would Turkeys Vote for an Early Thanksgiving? 140
- STV, National Unity, and Leadership 144
- New Zealand’s MMP 148
- The British Experience 152
- Lessons From Canadian History 155
- Notes 158
- Appendix A: Suggested STV Voting Districts for BC 176
- Appendix B: Tables 1 – 5 180
- Appendix C: STV Counting Procedure as Used in the Republic of Ireland 186
- Bibliography 188
