Maintaining a democracy is a complex balance in any modern day democratic government, to which Canada is no exception. Democracy essentially demands that the power lies with the common people, not with the people who rule. Evaluating a democracy is no easy task, there are many considerations and different opinions of what demonstrates an optimal democracy. Canada is consistently ranked in the top twenty countries by different analyses, however, Canada is also well known for a growing democratic deficit. This is further evident with ongoing political debates on electoral and senate reform seeking solutions to the increasing democratic deficit. The cause of the democratic deficit in Canada is essentially the lack of power the people have in
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There are some signs of change approaching, and in recent years’ electoral reform has been a strong point of most political campaigns. Most recently in 2015 Trudeau announced he would have done away with the first-past-the-post method in time for the next election. Furthermore five provinces have debated, in some form, the implementation of a new electoral system. The current electoral system is not effective in representing Canadian votes in government, and often creates a misrepresentation of Canadian interests. Furthermore, the system in conducive to a negative political environment, where citizens are forced to use their votes as negative votes in a system which favors two political parties. The electoral system in Canada is the significant cause of the growing democratic deficit in Canada. A potential solution would require nation wide support, and political cooperation, which is evidently possible, considering the undemocratic system we currently have in place. A possible solution is the Mixed Member Proportional method, which would retain the regional representation, while ensure the seats are also proportional to the votes. Whether Canada is ready to rid itself of the undemocratic electoral system at the heart of its growing democratic deficit will remain to be
There are some signs of change approaching, and in recent years’ electoral reform has been a strong point of most political campaigns. Most recently in 2015 Trudeau announced he would have done away with the first-past-the-post method in time for the next election. Furthermore five provinces have debated, in some form, the implementation of a new electoral system. The current electoral system is not effective in representing Canadian votes in government, and often creates a misrepresentation of Canadian interests. Furthermore, the system in conducive to a negative political environment, where citizens are forced to use their votes as negative votes in a system which favors two political parties. The electoral system in Canada is the significant cause of the growing democratic deficit in Canada. A potential solution would require nation wide support, and political cooperation, which is evidently possible, considering the undemocratic system we currently have in place. A possible solution is the Mixed Member Proportional method, which would retain the regional representation, while ensure the seats are also proportional to the votes. Whether Canada is ready to rid itself of the undemocratic electoral system at the heart of its growing democratic deficit will remain to be