Canada is under threat. We need electoral reform to protect ourselves against political polarization, autocracy and foreign interference.
by Trevor Potts. Originally published on Policy Options
June 10, 2025
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals have achieved what only months ago seemed impossible: Win a rare fourth consecutive term in office.
However, despite national voter turnout of 68 per cent – a level not seen since 1993 – less than one-third of eligible voters actually supported the winning party. Furthermore, the Bloc Québécois ended up with 22 seats in the House of Commons compared with seven for the NDP even though both parties got roughly the same number of national votes (1.2 million.)
These are just some of the negative results of the “first-past-the-post” electoral system, which leads to a Commons that fails to reflect the country’s diversity, amplifies polarization and leaves thousands of Canadians feeling unrepresented.
With mounting threats from U.S. President Donald Trump and growing internal political polarization, Canada needs a serious rethink on how we vote. We need a new system that ensures our governments better represent all Canadians and that strengthens our democracy.
The best alternative is some form of proportional representation – a voting system used by the vast majority of countries because it not only leads to more effective political representation, but also to better democratic institutions and greater human rights. Nine of the top 10 countries in the 2024 Human Freedom Index of the Cato Institute use a proportional representation system.
An outdated system that drives division
In a first-past-the-post system, a seat in the Commons is awarded to the party that secures the highest number of votes in a riding (figure 1).
In most ridings, the winning candidate does not get more than 50 per cent of the total votes, meaning that more people vote against the new MP than for them.
Even where multiple parties secure a double-digit slice of the electorate, such as in Kitchener Centre, Canada still follows its “winner-takes-all” model. So, despite the Conservatives, Greens and Liberals all securing about 30 per cent of the vote, only the Conservatives get to represent the riding in the Commons, effectively disregarding the voices of two-thirds of all Kitchener Centre voters (figure 2).
Current system fails minorities
Canada is a multicultural, diverse collection of communities of more than 41 million people, all of whom deserve fair political representation. According to Statistics Canada, there are more than 450 ethnic and cultural groups across the country – each with distinct beliefs, perspectives and needs.
First-past-the-post voting actively weakens our democracy by disadvantaging minority voices, and amplifying polarization. Experts warn that these electoral systems “are ill-advised for countries with deep ethnic, regional, religious, or other emotional and polarizing divisions.”
It’s no secret that Canada is facing growing levels of political polarization, especially among voters with a high level of partisanship.
A recent survey by the Angus Reid Institute found nearly half of all committed voters viewed adherents of their rival party as a “threat to Canada’s well-being.”
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The Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy found that two in three partisan voters also expressed strong hostility toward rival parties and their supporters, describing them as selfish (65 per cent), hypocritical (70 per cent) and close-minded (68 per cent).
This has led to an increase in “strategic voting.” When asked how they would vote in the 2025 federal election, one in four Canadians said they planned to vote not for personal preferences but for strategic reasons (e.g., to block a disliked candidate or party).
So, how can we create a more effective electoral system that better represents all Canadians?
The benefits of proportional representation
Proportional representation ensures political representation matches the share of votes a party receives. In other words, if a political party receives 40 per cent of the national vote, it should get 40 per cent of the seats in the Commons.
There are more than 130 countries that use either a proportional or mixed system , including Austria, Brazil, Denmark, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Korea and Switzerland. Fewer than 55 countries use the first-past-the-post system, including the United Kingdom and Canada.
Sweden, for example, elects its 349-seat Parliament (Rikstag) through proportional representation. Voters use an open-list ballot to choose a multi-party team of MPs to represent their district. This ability to reflect political diversity has resulted in Sweden’s multi-party coalition governments, an 86-per-cent voter turnout and the country being ranked No. 3 on the Global Democracy Index of the Economist Group.
Electoral reform is not a new issue at the federal or provincial level in Canada, with debate going back many decades.
However, there are many who are open to change. The federal NDP and Green parties are fully in favour of proportional representation and Carney recently expressed openness to electoral reform.
While previous attempts to launch voting reforms have failed, Trump’s threats and growing national unity crises provide a unique environment that might finally drive change.
Policy options for a stronger democracy
To safeguard against political polarization, foreign interference and other threats to our democracy, we need to explore some or all of the following options:
- Establish a national citizens’ assembly: Members should be a randomly selected diverse group of Canadians. The assembly should be modelled on those in New Zealand, Germany, Ireland and British Columbia. It should be given a clear mandate to review different electoral systems (e.g., ranked ballots, mixed-member proportional) and asked to deliver non-partisan, binding recommendations to Parliament.
- Convene a multi-party Commons special committee: This committee should investigate reforms to Canada’s electoral system, review progress on 2016 recommendations and provide actionable recommendations to Parliament.
- Establish a royal commission to conduct a national study: This should be set up under the Public Inquiries Act, providing it with a clear mandate to develop formal recommendations for Parliament within a six-month time frame.
- Launch a national public-outreach campaign: This should promote the benefits of proportional representation in partnership with third-party advocacy groups such as Fair Vote Canada.
- Sponsor a national referendum: The focus should be on a mixed-member proportional representation system, including a two-vote system for selecting direct candidates (local) and party lists (proportional) that ensures regional voices and national proportionality. This should draw inspiration from Denmark and New Zealand
Canada faces immense challenges, including dangerous foreign interference in our elections, political polarization and worsening climate crises. To address these challenges, we need effective representation from our diverse communities and that starts with a rethink on how we vote.
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This article first appeared on Policy Options and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.