To the editor,
Though many commentators and disadvantaged politicians may disagree, minority governments, like the current agreement between the federal Liberals and NDP, are likely the closest that Canadians will get to fully democratic proportional representative governance.
In federal-electorate popular-vote support, that received by the NDP and Liberal parties combined typically significantly outweighs that for the Conservative party. (In last September’s election, those parties garnered 17.80, 32.60 and 33.70 per cent, respectively.) To me, that’s definitely a more democratically representative governance than if, as with this case, the Conservatives rule with much less of the popular vote.
Following the 2021 election, there was abundant news-media commentary about the likely-otherwise-Tory electorate that defected to Maxime Bernier’s PPC camp thus potentially costing the Tories election-winning seats. Yet I heard nothing about the usual center-left vote-splitting between the Liberals and NDP, which, I believe, often enables the Tories to squeeze up the middle.
All of this, of course, is basically thanks to our first-past-the-post electoral system, which to me barely qualifies as democratic rule within the democracy spectrum and is least representative of the electorate as a whole. Additionally, I understand, such low-representation governments are therefore easier for lobbyists to manipulate.
Frank Sterle Jr.
White Rock, B.C.
newsroom@clearwatertimes.com
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