Un-Equal Legislative Power

The most obvious things can be the hardest to see:
  • 50% of voters don’t just feel disenfranchised. They are disenfranchised.
  • They’re also disengaged, dispirited, disillusioned, and disappointed.
  • This harms both voters and the country as a whole.

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Every voter should have Equal Legislative Power in deciding the laws and policies which affect them.
  1. Legislative Power:  The authority under the constitution to make laws and to alter or repeal them.
  2. Voters and Their Legislative Power:  In democratic countries, voters exercise their Legislative Power through their elected representatives.
  3. Making Power Equal between Voters:  In a theoretical sense, we expect every MP, with their single vote in Parliament, to represent about the same number of voters. We expect that this will result in every voter having an equal say in the laws and policies which affect them.* This only works if all voters are represented by an MP.
Voters Represented by Each MP - Federal 2011
Voters Represented by Each MP — Federal 2011
Number of Voters Represented by Each MP, 2011 to 2015 — PDF
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:
  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.
In Canada’s 2011 Federal election, almost 50% of voters didn’t vote for the MP from their District.
  1. Nope, you’re not alone. Every other voter in Canada didn’t vote for the MP who purports to represent them.
  2. Many voters can go decades, or even a lifetime without an MP who represents their point of view in Ottawa.
These 7,297,066 Canadian voters have zero Legislative Power in the House of Commons.
  1. Every single one of these 7,297,066 Canadians marked a ballot and ended up with: 
    1. An MP they didn’t vote for.
    2. An MP who is not accountable to them.
    3. An MP who says and promotes all kinds of things they disagree with.
    4. An MP who votes for policies and laws they don’t want.
    5. An MP they may not like, think is dishonest, or is otherwise unsuitable.
  2. These 7,297,066 voters have zero say in the policies and laws which affect them. How is this democratic?
Harmful Effects:  Failure to represent 50% of voters creates two major 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.
  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.
There actually is a better way, which treats voters equally and results in more legitimate laws and policies.
  1. A Better Way:  Several better options are possible, some are better than others. 
    1. Foundation of a Solution:  By examining our democratic values, and how to fulfill them, we can actually design, from the ground up, the fundamentals of a much more democratic way of selecting our representatives.
    2. Democratic Values:
      1. Elections Are About Choosing Your Representative:
      2. Equal Legislative Power:
        1. Every Voter Should Be Represented:
        2. Every MP Should Represent the Same Number of Voters:
      3. Local Representation:
      4. Honest Voting:
    3. Choice Voting:
      1. Multi-Member Districts:
      2. Local Representation:
      3. Preferential Voting:
      4. Assigning Candidates to Voters:
      5. Benefits:
  2. It’s Been Done Before:  In truth, there’s very little on VoterRights.ca that’s new. 
    1. Mathematicians and other democratic theorists have been studying this since the late 1800’s.
    2. The BC Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform inspired VoterRights.ca.
  3. What’s Holding Us Back?
    1. Resignation:  Often, we accept bad things because we don’t think there’s an alternative. Well, there is.
    2. Complacency:  Sometimes we accept bad things because we can’t really imagine a world with a better alternative.
    3. The Inertia of Power:  Politics is all about power. Powerful interests will want to keep the systems which helped them become powerful. There’s a lot of power in government.  Shifting power to voters is not typically on their agenda.

 

* Obviously, there are some unavoidable constitutional anomalies that will give some voters more legislative power than others. Most Canadians probably agree that each Territory should get its own MP, even if their populations are not large. Drawing electoral boundaries is not simple. Perfect equality is not realistic. But we can try.

 

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Equal Legislative Power