The prime minister’s comments on the Uncommons podcast were part of a larger communications strategy to talk to ‘niche’ audiences, says former Liberal staffer Muhammed Ali.
I wish STV came up in articles like this. I feel like it’s the perfect system for Canada since it fits so naturally with our constitutionally-required geographic restrictions on seats for the provinces.
In short: all ridings are merged to have 3-5 seats* (same number in total as now). Parties can run as many candidates as there are seats. Cheers can give ranked votes to individuals or to parties. If someone gets 20/25/33% of the votes, they get a seat. If nobody does, the person with the least votes is eliminated, and their votes are distributed to the next-highest-ranked option. There’s a bit of extra math for fractional votes to ensure fair splitting of next-choice votes that are “extra” beyond what’s needed to win a seat.
No party lists/corruption by being beholden to the party. No regional shenanigans about representation from listless MMP. Roughly proportional representation locally so most Canadians will have an MP that represents their interests well, while still keeping fringe parties from fracturing things too much.
And it’s been done successfully in Ireland for over a century, too, so it’s well tested.
*The territories would effectively just get ranked ballot (= STV with 1-seat ridings) to ensure they retain 1 seat each.
I wish STV came up in articles like this. I feel like it’s the perfect system for Canada since it fits so naturally with our constitutionally-required geographic restrictions on seats for the provinces.
In short: all ridings are merged to have 3-5 seats* (same number in total as now). Parties can run as many candidates as there are seats. Cheers can give ranked votes to individuals or to parties. If someone gets 20/25/33% of the votes, they get a seat. If nobody does, the person with the least votes is eliminated, and their votes are distributed to the next-highest-ranked option. There’s a bit of extra math for fractional votes to ensure fair splitting of next-choice votes that are “extra” beyond what’s needed to win a seat.
No party lists/corruption by being beholden to the party. No regional shenanigans about representation from listless MMP. Roughly proportional representation locally so most Canadians will have an MP that represents their interests well, while still keeping fringe parties from fracturing things too much.
And it’s been done successfully in Ireland for over a century, too, so it’s well tested.
*The territories would effectively just get ranked ballot (= STV with 1-seat ridings) to ensure they retain 1 seat each.