Electoral reform representative speaks at Acadia

An electoral reform consultation was held at the K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre of Acadia University in Wolfville recently.

The event was sponsored by Hannah Dawson, a student at Acadia and longtime activist in the area’s Conservative party. The guest speaker was Blake Richards, Conservative Member of Parliament for Banff Aidrie and a member of the Select Committee on Electoral Reform that is charged with evaluating several alternative voting methods and recommending one to the Parliament.

There were 18 people in attendance, approximately 60 per cent of whom were over the age of 60 and 20 per cent under the age of 30.

Dawson gave a brief overview of how the different alternatives would work and began with the current system known as first past the post that has been in use since confederation in 1867. Whoever receives the most votes in a riding becomes the MP. It has come under fire recently because with five parties, a candidate can earn only 20.1 per cent of the vote and still win, meaning that 79.9 per cent of the constituency did not vote for that person.

Most of the audience mem- Blake Richards, Conservative Member of Parliament for Banff Aidrie, recently spoke about electoral reform at Acadia.

bers openly supported some form or proportional voting. The greatest support among the attendees was for the Mixed Member Proportional system.

Richards then took the podium and explained that The Select Committee on Electoral Reform consists of 12 members; five Liberals, three Conservatives, two NDP, one Green and one Bloc Québécois.

Committee members have

conducted consultations in 17 cities across Canada and heard from 731 witnesses. Participants included experts in many fields as well as members of the public who were allotted two minutes to give their opinions in open mike sessions. There were also e-consultations.

The committee’s mandate is not only to make recommendations on electoral reform. They are also charged with examining mandatory and online voting.

Mandatory voting would require every eligible citizen to register with Elections Canada. Everyone would be required to present themselves to the polling station on or before Election Day.

Richards said, “People don’t know they can vote any day during the election.”

Once they report, voters could cast a ballot, refuse to vote or spoil their ballot by leaving it blank or marking it inappropriately. As an incentive, people could be rewarded for voting by being entered into a lottery with prizes. Conversely, they could be fined for not voting. Australia has adopted a mandatory voting law along with 22 other countries. The voter turnout in Australia’s last election was 94 per cent. Those who did not vote were fined up to $180 AUD.

Audience members voiced strong opposition to mandatory voting. One person pointed out that if people can spoil their ballots there would be no actual increase in voter participation. Another spoke of joke parties that have formed in some mandatory voting countries that put bogus candidates on a ballot. When a show of hands was taken, only one person favoured mandatory voting.

Online voting also brought comments. It has been touted as a way to increase voting participation, especially among youth. Some in the audience were concerned about privacy and the possibility of votes being hacked. One man said that he had been voting on paper ballots all his life and he saw no reason to change.

One woman said that she wanted proportional representation because she had never seen a candidate she has voted for elected to office and felt her votes had been wasted.

Richards replied, “no one’s vote is ever wasted.” He said that every vote counts because, “winners must consider other views to stay in office.”

He has seen bills from opposition members that have been defeated in Parliament only to return later as a government bill. What mattered is that the bill passed, not whose name was on it. He stated that in caucus he argues the cases of people in his riding and has changed other politician’s views.

When asked, Richards said that it was unlikely any party would receive a majority in a proportional voting system resulting in either coalitions or minority governments. He would not give his personal preference or discussed decisions being made within the committee. He did say that the report was due on Dec. 1.