Now this is worth pursuing

Here’s one of the best new ideas I’ve heard in a long time. Granted, of course, with the standard ineptness, aloofness, arrogance, and general stupidity of elected representatives, who are usually much further behind the general populace when it comes to bold progressive ideas, this probably won’t come to pass. But you can’t help but hold out for hope and that clearer and enlightened minds can prevail. Essentially, Michael Byers, a political science professor at the University of British Columbia, and former NDP candidate in the Vancouver Centre riding in the 2008federal election, penned an inspiring piece entitled “Liberals and New Democrats together could unseat Harper”. And yes, that is the basic premise of his work, yet it delves right into the very core of what is wrong with Canadian democracy and specifically our primitive voting system: proportional representation is desperately needed, and we can’t have another federal election with a voting system in place which pre-dates electricity, woman’s suffrage, and the aeroplane. How can one party, which captures approximately forty percent of the popular vote, rule as a majority? Well, this first-past-the-post voting system has been place since Canada's inception, and for the last five years we've been fortunate enough to have minority governments, which has kept Stephen Harper and the Reform Party at bay. But still, the Bloc Quebecois actually has a larger representation in the House of Commons than the New Democrats, who received almost double the amount of the vote percentage that the Bloc received. The Bloc also only beat the Green Party in the vote by approximately three percentage points, yet the Bloc won forty-nine seats and the Greens zero. This is what the current parliament would look like if we had proportional representation in place.

Anyways, Byers proposes that the Liberals and NDP form a one-off ceasefire between the two parties, and that they should not run candidates against one other in the next federal election. For each particular riding, whichever candidate fared worst in the previous election, whether they're a Liberal or a New Democrat, would not run in that riding, or the party which fared worse would not nominate a candidate for the riding. Byers believes that the two parties would win more seats (the Liberals picking up thirty to forty, the NDP five to ten), and that the Liberals would have a shot at winning a majority. Byers did not include the Bloc in the deal, but did consider the Green Party. The Greens received over six percent of the popular vote in the last election, and 6.8 per cent finished second in five ridings. Byers believes that the five second-place Green cadidates should be given a high priority to run in the ridings they polled very strongly in.

Byers argues that the two parties would not have to coordinate platforms, and that power sharing would not have to be a part of the agreement. So, if the Liberals won a minority government, they would be free to seek support from any party they choose on any given piece of legislation. But what would have to be part of the agreement would be a solid commitment to pursuing proportional representation, perhaps even through a national referendum. Byers includes some of the benefits of proportional representation, including a much more actively engaged electorate, who would feel much more included and involved considering that every vote would be counted, and voting for say the Greens would not be a "waste", as some say. It could also significantly increase voter turnout, as voter participation continues to dwindle election after election.

But there are aspects of Byer's argument that I disagree with. For instance, his assertion that the current polling, with the Conservatives in striking distance of majority government territory, is “unlikely to improve”. The reality is that polls constantly shift all over the place. The Liberals and Conservatives will be in a dead heat one moment, with Liberals leading Conservatives in Ontario and Quebec, and then next thing you know, the Conservatives will be leading. Canadians are fickle and the polls certainly can be jumpy and inconsistent. Also, the general public already has had poor view or low opinion of politicians in general for a long time. But, Harper is adding to that. The House of Commons always been a tough place, reserved for those with the thickest of skins, but the heckling and general poor demeanour and environment has gotten much worse over the last three years. Certainly Liberal infighting isn’t helping the situation (when are they ever going to learn and just unite the party already!). And, the NDP certainly has some great ideas, but it doesn’t help with the national media constantly rolling their proverbial eyes at them, and being constantly ridiculed, ie John Ibbitson.

Regardless, Byers has proposed a bold new idea and it is not only worth considering by the important figures within the respective bureaucracies of the Liberal and New Democratic Parties, but also worth pursuing.