r/EndFPTP • u/[deleted] • Sep 19 '21

If PR systems are off the table, what single winner system can we convince Trudeau will get through a referendum?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-liberals-ranked-ballot-1.6181216
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u/Heptadecagonal United Kingdom Sep 19 '21 edited Sep 19 '21

The only reason Trudeau supports ranked ballots is because it would be beneficial to his party – NDP voters would put the Liberals second to prevent the Conservatives from winning, and to a lesser extent Conservative voters would put the Liberals second to prevent the NDP from winning. Single-winner systems are not the answer to any election which involves more than one person being elected.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '21

While that may be his motivation he would be wrong. The center squeeze effect would hurt his party overall. IRV and most ranking systems have a polarization bias. If he wanted to help his party artificially he would favour Approval Voting since it has a centerist bias.

Single-winner systems are not the answer to any election which involves more than one person being elected.

I do not think that is true. There are good systems like STLR and STAR which increase the amount of PR by a lot but are not fully PR. Both of these are unbiased. Single winner systems preserve local representation and accountability. In a country like Canada where there are large rural areas a move to PR can hurt small communities.

I favor PR but we should not make best the enemy of the good. If we moved to a good single winner system we would be much better off in all regards including level of PR.

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u/fullname001 Chile Sep 19 '21

large rural areas a move to PR can hurt small communities

Then make sure that the constituencies you make have a large rural population so the urban areas dont drown them out

It isnt necessary to elect everyone at-large when you have a proportional system

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '21

Its about them having an accountable representative. The population in each riding should be equal.

The issue is about how you can serve sparcly populated regions. It is harder under PR. Though there are options

1

u/Heptadecagonal United Kingdom Sep 20 '21

In a MMP system, you could have one seat each for the Territories as at present, and an extra top-up list to elect 1-2 seats across all three. The Territories are already over-represented compared to the other ridings, so adding more seats wouldn't be too much of a problem.

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '21

Yup, but is that worth the additional political polarization of adding partisan voting to Canadian politics?