Our voting system is broken

The Calgary Herald:

Forgive me if I still seem giddy, but this was a special moment for an old Calgarian. After 35 years trying, in nearly as many elections at every level, I finally cast a vote for somebody who got in.

Hallelujah, Mayor Nenshi: the system works.

Well, it worked this time. For some of us. But for those who hail Nenshi's victory as the long-awaited rise of a progressive political force in Alberta, it's a little early to start counting chickens.

First, though, the good news. Nenshi's victory is the single greatest stroke of PR that this city has scored in my lifetime. For those of us grown weary of the redneck slander, reading the effusive (and, admittedly, incredulous) remarks of other Canadians praising our election gives hope that Alberta may one day be known for something other than dinosaurs, conservatives and conservative dinosaurs.

The bad news, however, is that as long as Canadian elections cling to the first-past-the-post model, it will remain difficult for progressive candidates to usurp power from the old boys' network to which we are politically inured. When 30 per cent of the vote can get you 60 per cent of the seats and 100 per cent of the power, it's an easily gamed system. I am a great believer that our electoral process is broken, and that only proportional representation of the sort being promoted by the non-partisan group Fair Vote Canada can render our democracy more true to its calling.

FVC points out that nearly one million Canadians voted for the Green party in the last federal election, and got exactly zero seats. Meanwhile, here in Alberta, less voters than that managed to elect Conservatives in 27 ridings.

In proportional representation, depending on the specific system, seats are apportioned simply by number of votes cast. In other words, those Green voters would get a million votes' worth of Parliamentary power. All votes count, not just a privileged few.

Saying this, a more proportional system of voting wouldn't have benefited Nenshi in our recent civic election. (Granted, municipal elections are a different animal.)

But as it stands, Nenshi was not the choice of the majority of Calgarians, and it will be a challenge for him to assert a mandate. If democracy is truly about majority rule -- which, apparently, it isn't -- it would require a run-off election between the two leading contenders, and Nenshi would conceivably lose.

Still, let's take this and run. Forty per cent of us, at least, have shown themselves ready for fresh ideas. Whereas this isn't news to Calgarians who exist in diverse, educated circles -- yet legitimately wonder how, politically, we only ever project monolithic conservatism -- it is a clarion call for that 40 per cent to insist their voices be heard in every future election.

How can that happen, for example, at the provincial level? At present, there is no logical home for Nenshi voters in Edmonton. The Liberal brand is hopeless in this province, so let's get beyond that. Nothing short of a new, progressive provincial party could hope to lay the foundation for some day unseating conservatives, or even just offering a credible opposition.

Maybe this surprising mayoral victory, in combination with newly engaged youth, can truly help foster a change in business as usual. But it's going to be glacially slow unless we adopt fairer voting protocols like proportional representation, which is being used successfully in most Western democracies.

If you want the latest expression of democratic failure, just tune in to next week's U.S. mid-term elections. See for yourself how, yet again, a flawed, two-party, first-past-the-post system ensures slender mandates, governmental gridlock and a preservation of the status quo. Entrenched elites love that stuff.

Calgary's progressive voters have their first victory. Will they ever have another, or will it simply turn into a case of all dressed up and nowhere to go?