PSC 345 CANADIAN POLITICS

1
PSC 345CANADIAN POLITICS

• THE ELECTORAL PROCESS

2
INTRODUCTION

• Elections The most fundamental of all democratic
  rights
• Elections and universal adult suffrage A
  necessary, if not sufficient, condition for
  democratic government.
• Importance of the electoral process
• Not a neutral process
• Exacerbates regional alienation
• Violation of Rep by Pop Principle
• Challenges by nonterritorial groups
• Electoral system impact on party system
• Three dimensions of electoral systems
• Preference articulation, electoral districting
  and electoral formula

3
PREFERENCE ARTICULATION

• Other means to express preferences
• Contributing money
• Volunteer work, etc.
• Simple preference voting articulation
• Strategic voting
• Alternative Australias ordinal choice voting
  articulation for Senate and House of
  Representatives elections.

4
ELECTORAL DISTRICTING

• Electoral districts are geographical units within
  which votes are translated into legislative
  seats.
• Single member districts (Canadian House of
  Commons)
• Generate unambiguous winners
• Reduce complex array of preferences
• Multi-member districts (American Senate)
• Can be very complex
• But maybe a better way to translate preferences.

5
THE ELECTORAL FORMULA

• Definition Set of rules to determine when a
  candidate can be declared a winner.
• Canadian plurality system First-past-the-post.
• Canadian party convention majority system.
• Alternatives
• Single transferable vote system in Australia.
• Multi-member districts Party-list system.
• Proportional representation vs..... single-member
  plurality system

6
THREE CONTROVERSIES

• The tendency to translate imperfectly the votes
  cast for a party into shares of seats it wins.
• The tension between the principle of
  representation by population and territorial
  factors in the apportionment of electoral
  districts
• The difficulty of adequately representing
  nonterritorial groups, such as women and
  aboriginals.

7
CONTROVERY 1TRANSLATION OF VOTES INTO SEATS

• Traditionally favors major parties
• Liberals exceed share 12 out of 17 elections
• Conservatives exceed share 12 out of 15 elections
• NDP penalized by current system always lt2/3 of
  votes
• Parties are overrated when votes approaches 50
• Most votes doesnt mean that party forms the
  government In 1957 and 1979 Liberals and the
  most votes, but Conservatives formed the
  government.

8
MOST DISTORTED CASE 1993 ELECTIONS

• The Liberals received 60 of Commons seats with
  41.1 of the vote. (Ratio of 1.47, 3rd highest
  since 1945)
• The Conservatives received .67 of Commons seats
  with 16 of the vote (Ratio of .04, lowest ever)
• Why? Parties that aspire to a national base of
  support but finish behind the winner in most
  districts are highly penalized.
• Example The NDP in 1997 had a low ratio of .64,
  while the BQ and Reform had a respective ratio of
  1.36 and 1.03.

9
CONSEQUENCES

• Feeling of regional alienation
• Liberals are underrepresented in Western Canada
• But "overrepresented" in Ontario
• Impact 1970s National Energy Program (NEP).
• Losing parties that adopt a more regional
  orientation do much better than losing parties
  with a national orientation.
• This led to the regionalization of the political
  parties, starting with the 1993 elections.

10
CONTROVERSY 2ELECTORAL DISTRICTING

• 1867 Rep by Pop in the House of Commons was
  supposed to represent nationalizing principle,
  while the division of powers and the Senate was
  supposed to represent the regionalizing or
  federal principle. Reality differs.
• Rep by Pop by provinces still exist, but it has
  been diluted by
• Senatorial Clause Each province must have at
  least as many members of the HofC as it has
  senators.
• Grandfather Clause No province can have fewer
  seats than it had in 1976.
• Results See Dycks Fig. 12.1
• Electoral quotients vary by provinces.

11
SEAT DISTRIBUTION W/IN PROVINCES

• Constitution is silent regarding Rep by Pop w/in
  provinces.
• Distribution controlled by government after each
  census.
• Opens the way for Gerrymandering.
• Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act of 1964
• Responsibility to 11 federal boundaries
  commissions
• Removes partisanship
• Allows 25 variation in size of counties w/in
  provinces
• Favors rural areas
• Charter of Rights and Freedom (1982)
• All citizens have the right to vote and right
  of equal treatment under the law.
• Does it mean right to an equal vote?
• Court challenges

12
VOTERS EQUALITY

• Institutional changes have reduced constituency
  inequalities since 1966, but single-member
  plurality electoral system affects voter equality
  much more than constituency inequalities. (See
  overhead Table 9.5 and next slide)
• Is proportional representation the solution?
• Pro Value of each vote is equal
• Cons
• Increases the likelihood of coalition
  governments.
• Affects governmental stability.
• The Jury is out on
• Effectiveness of executive federalism?
• Relative strength of various parties?
• Impact of governmental policies?
• Deregionalization of the vote?

13
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

• Seats Actual number of seats
• Cost Number of votes required for each seat
• PR Seats Number of votes if same cost-per-seat
  ratio as winning party

14
CONTROVERSY 3NONTERRITORIAL REPRESENTATION

• Should certain groups be better represented?
• Should there be separate aboriginal districts?
• Should there be separate electoral districts for
  women?
• Could underrepresented groups be better
  represented through some form of proportional
  representation?
• All these would be very hard to achieve with the
  existing system of plurality election in
  single-member districts.
• Could the solution be found in a Senate reform?