One of my favourite sayings hangs on our bathroom door: “Know that no one is silent though many are not heard—work to change this.”
That’s what I call an emotionally power-packed call to action. It conjures up all sorts of voices, from poverty-stricken citizens who are forced to “put up and shut up” with whatever abuse comes their way, to refugees fleeing their homeland as a matter of survival, and even wild animals about to lose their homes due to human encroachment.
Today, though, I am thinking about Canadian voters and all the voices that go unheard as a result of our “first past the post” (FPTP) electoral system. It was just over a year ago that Canadians had their say in a federal election. The vote resulted in ousting Stephen Harper’s Conservative majority government and replacing it with yet another majority government, only this time under Justin Trudeau’s leadership and a Liberal banner.
It turns out that single-party majority governments are very much associated with our current electoral system. Out of 36 elections since 1867, Canadians elected majority governments 28 times. But, the trouble is when the majority rules, the majority can pretty much set all the rules. Hmmm. A friend once shared with me an alarming revelation, as explained to her by a university professor, when it came to Canada’s parliamentary system. It was that a majority government, especially one with a corresponding majority in the Senate, was not unlike a dictatorship. Can you say “very scary?”
Let’s say a majority government wanted to create a new tax break. In order to get this new tax break passed into law, a proposal (or “bill”) would first be created. This bill would be presented to the House of Commons where elected representatives (Members of Parliament) would discuss, debate, and vote on the bill. If all of the majority government MPs voted in favour of the “party line” (voting how the party wants, or “whips”, them to vote) the bill would pass through the first house. It wouldn’t matter how much opposition other parties presented. Other than attention being drawn to various concerns, there would never be enough opposition votes to sway the outcome. (Of course, voting the “party line” isn’t always the case, but it is often the case.)
After passage through the first house, the bill would then be sent to a second house, in this case the Senate, for “a sober second look.” As most senators are appointed in association with a political party you can pretty much predict how they’ll vote; again, not always, and not necessarily in line with their party, but often. Once both houses consent to a bill, it goes to our Governor General for Royal Assent and is passed into law.
Put simply, when Canadians elect a majority government there are a whole lot of voices and different points of view not being heard. The same could be said for the Senate when a majority of appointments are associated with one political party. Two majorities of the same political stripe in our two different houses of government — that’s the scariest “majority rule” scenario of all. The good news is that all this can change. That is, if Prime Minister Trudeau holds true to his election promise to bring in electoral reform. Tossing out our current and simplistic “first past the post” electoral system in favour of a fair, inclusive, and collaboratively democratic “proportional representation” system is all it would take to ensure more viewpoints are considered when our government needs to make big decisions.
Working for change so that every vote counts and diverse voices are no longer silenced — now that’s in our best interest.
