Last in Turn Out and on Electoral Reform

Canadian Council on Democracy:

Pivoting off of my interview with David Frum, Aaron Wherry of Macleans notes that Frum is correct regarding declining voter turnout, but then also makes an interesting observation:

Canada fares poorly though when those turnouts are compared.

Denmark 86.6%
Sweden 82%
Italy 80.5%
Netherlands 80.4%
New Zealand 79.5%
Germany 77.7%
Norway 77.4%
Spain 75.3%
Greece 74.1%
Japan 67.5%
Ireland 67%
Finland 65%
Israel 64.7%
France 60.4%
Portugal 59.7%
Canada 59.5%
Switzerland 48.3%

For whatever it is worth, the vast majority of those above would seem to have some history with coalition government. Greece currently has a majority government, Portugal, like Canada, has a minority government.

The other thing worth noting is that all of those countries use some form of proportional representation. This, I think, is another part of the reason that Canada appears so far down on the list. We have a party structure that has evolved to better reflect the diversity of views held by the population, but an electoral system that has yet to catch up.

In a lot of ways, I think that is a recipe for precisely what I was suggesting is happening: disenfranchisement and disengagement.

It is also worth noting in regards to Frum’s comment about younger voters that the parties who are most adversely affected by our first-past-the-poll system tend to derive a disproportionate amount (page 7) of support from younger voters, particularly the Green Party. With the perception that casting a ballot for the party of their choice is merely throwing their vote away, our electoral system is practically set up to instill apathy in younger voters.