Category Archives: Democratic Performance

Democratic Performance

Who Can An MP Represent?

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A single MP cannot possibly represent all voters in their District. (That’s why we vote!)
  1. MPs Think They Represent Everyone:  It’s fun to talk with MPs about this. They’ll often insist that they represent everyone in their district. Yes, everyone. Most MPs are conscientious; they want to do a really good job for all the people in their district. Good for them. But in the real world, this just isn’t possible.
  2. Voter Preferences Are Real: Voters have very real differences of opinion. These opinions and desires don’t go away after an election. Voters’ desires are real and persistent. 
    1. Partisanship:  The simplest level of representation is that of pure partisanship. A single MP can’t possibly represent all Liberal, NDP, Conservative, Bloc and Green partisans from their district.
    2. Policy Preferences:  On known issues, where there’s a difference in opinion, MPs vote in different ways. The way an MP votes in Parliament matters to voters.
    3. Perspective Differences:  For unknown and future issues, voters want a representative who shares their point of view and will vote that way in Parliament.
    4. Trust:  For some voters, policy and laws are not of great interest. They want the representative they feel they can trust, not the representative they don’t trust.
    5. Likeability:  For other voters, it’s more of a gut feeling. This person they like. The others, not so much. This is how some voters choose to exercise their franchise. Even at this level of engagement, preferences are real and are the choice of the voter.
  3. Differences Which Matter to Voters — A Short List of Topics:
    • Which Political Party Should Form Government:
    • Who the Prime Minister Should Be:
    • Taxation:
    • Spending:
    • Debt:
    • Deficit:
    • Trade Policies:
    • Treaties:
    • International Agreements:
    • Farming:
    • Education:
    • Healthcare:
    • Abortion:
    • National Defence:
    • Public Safety:
    • Public Works:
    • Status of Women:
    • Skills Development:
    • Labour:
    • Foreign Affairs:
    • Multiculturalism:
    • Finance:
    • Immigration:
    • Agriculture:
    • Industry:
    • Heritage:
    • The Census:
    • Culture:
    • Religion:
    • Transportation:
    • Economic development:
    • Crime and Punishment:
    • Health:
    • Fisheries:
    • Parks:
    • Environment:
    • Climate Change:
    • National Energy Policy:
    • Pipelines:
    • National Revenue:
    • First Nations:
    • Veterans Affairs:
    • Natural Resources:
    • Intergovernmental Affairs:
    • Science:
    • Sport:
    • Democratic Reform:

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  4. The Myth of a Single MP Representing Everyone in a District: Our current democratic model is based on a myth, that a single MP can represent everyone in their district. It’s just silly, and demonstrably false.

Democratic Performance

Democratic Harms

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Failure to represent 50% of voters creates two major classes of problems
  1. To Voters: Canadians have an expectation of representation. When they think of it for a few seconds, half of voters will realize they have no say and they won’t be happy about it. 
    1. Not Being Represented:  Unrepresented voters are disenfranchised. Their point of view is not taken into account when MPs vote in Parliament.
    2. Not Feeling Represented:  Unrepresented voters feel disenfranchised and disengaged. Not feeling you have anything to do with your country’s government is a potent discouragement.

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  2. To Laws and Policies:  Laws and policies are often unrepresentative of the will of many or even a majority of voters. The Charter suggests that we live in a Representative Democracy. This should mean something all the time, not just occasionally. 
    1. Legitimacy:  When half the voters are unrepresented, the very legitimacy of our country’s laws and policies are brought into question.
    2. Inappropriate Laws and Policies:  When half the voters are unrepresented, we may be adopting the wrong laws and policies for Canadian voters.
    3. Disrespect of Government:  If you are not at the policy making table, if your voice is not being heard, if most Canadians disagree with the direction the country is going in, if you don’t have faith in the system because it clearly is not designed properly, then the institution of government and politics in general will lose respect.