Why First-Past-the-Post Is Better Than the Rest for Canada

Commentary Canada’s first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting system has contributed to 157 years of stable democratic governance in Canada, a track-record few countries can match. Yet calls for “electoral reform” have been increasing, based on the claim that FPTP is fundamentally undemocratic. Because candidates in a constituency need only a plurality rather than an outright majority of votes to win a seat, a party can win a solid majority, form a government and impose its will on the country with only a minority of public support. Two activist groups, Fair Voting BC and the Springtide Collective for Democracy, argued at the Ontario Superior Court last year that FPTP is unconstitutional, that its failure to provide exact parity in the impact of each individual vote violates Section 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. And last month, a group of MPs brought a motion in the House of Commons seeking to re-examine electoral reform. Both the lawsuit and the parliamentary motion were unsuccessful—but the issue is not likely to die....