Chapter 6 - Elections

Section 3 of CA 1982

• Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House or of a Legislative Assembly and to be qualified for membership therein

• It was very restrictive pre-confederation

  • Used to be 21+ vote, but now 18+

  • Expanded for women in 1918-1940

  • There were also ethnicity-based restrictions, like Indigenous peoples

Representation

• Strive for representation by election of the people

• Indirect choice of executive, limited direct democracy

• Responsible gov’t - MPs are periodically re-elected (accountability) in order to remain in office

• PM and Cabinet are indirectly accountable - must always maintain confidence

Delegates

Spokesperson who faithfully transmit views of the majority of the people who elect them

Three main concepts of representation

1. Delegates

2. Trustees

3. Party member

Trustee

Person that is entrusted to the responsibility of gov’t, use their judgment on behalf of constituents

Party member

Stay largely in line with collective policies of a party that people base their vote on. Loyal supporters of policies advocated by party.

Which of the three main concepts of representation do we use in Canada?

• Hybrid

• MPs act as a mix of trustees, delegates, and party members

• MPs aren’t bound by specific mandates and use their judgment even if it differs from their constituents, so not just delegate

• MPs are heavily influenced by party platforms, so not just trustee

• While party discipline is strong, MPs have duty to their specific riding

• There is no official model or consistent expectation, but may emphasize the leader

Mandate

• The authority and legitimacy voters give a government to govern and implement its policies after winning an election

• Governments like to claim these to govern based on that party platform

• The idea of party representation forms the basis

• If assumed that voters elected their MP based on party affiliation, then the party that is called on to form the gov’t may infer that the electorate has endorsed general line of policy

• Party may claim that it has a “democratic ___” to carry out policy

• if MPs were elected as delegates/trustees, there wouldn’t be this

Floor-Crossing

• Joining another party, typically the opposite

• Very controversial

• Consistent with the trustee theory

  • Voters who elect MP have given authority to do what they think is of best interest for riding/country

Microcosm Theory of Representation

• Legislative bodies are fully representative only if the assembly of a small system reflects the dynamics of society as a whole

• I.e. if 50% of the population is female, then roughly half of the representatives ought to be female

• Grounded in two arguments

  • Inclusivity as a requirement of fairness (i.e. if 5% of Chinese-Canadians make up the population, it would be unfair if legislative didn’t include some Chinese-Canadian reps)

    • Discrimination?

  • Legislative body needs to be inclusive of the wide variety of Canadians to ensure that their perspectives are heard and their interests can be defended/advanced

• Always played a role in the regime

• Increasingly influential in deciding who serves in the SCC

• Also more discussion on reforming electoral system to have parliament mirror more closely of social composition

  • I.e. Charlottetown Accord → proposed 50% of seats would be reserved for women

• May also be controversial because raises question of which groups should have defined representation and who would decide what politically relevant characteristics of society are?

Single-Member Plurality

• An electoral system where the country is divided into constituencies (338 for Canada), each having one representative. The winning candidate is the one with the most votes

• Canada’s current electoral system

• Depending on # of candidates and strength of political parties in a particular riding, the winner will gain a majority of the votes

  • Often gain only plurality of the votes (win the most, but fall short of a majority)

Design of an Electoral System (Four questions):

• Will the country be divided up into a # of electoral districts, or will the voters all vote in a single national election

• What is the optimal # of representatives? Too few = not representative of population Too large = dysfunctional

• If the electoral system is based on electoral districts, one has to ask if there will be one member elected per district or multiple-member districts

• How is actual voting structured? Is it a plurality win or must the winner have a majority of the votes? Does the elector simply choose one candidate, or is it a ranking? Do they choose a desired party or a specific candidate?

Electoral Boundary Commissions

• Process for determining specific boundaries of electoral districts

• Provide parliament w/ set of recommendations

• Each 3 person commission is chaired by a judge and commission members are usually high-profile citizens who are known for their impartiality and/or expertise in law/poli sci

• Approved by parliament

• Political gerrymandering?

  • Drawing boundaries to benefit political party, but in Canada it is more positive political gerrymandering

    • Efforts to try and improve representation for geographically concentrated interests, rather than partisan advantages

    • Sec. 3 improving voter equity → urban/rural balance

Community of Interest

Commissions must given consideration to ensure that a population will have a substantial enough presence to be heard.

Electoral Quotient

• Average population for an electoral district

• Last calculated average was 111, 166

• Respect “one person, one vote”

• Impossible to insist that every constituency is the same size

  • Unequal if it was (geographically speaking)

    • Larger territory to have same # of people in a small area in Toronto

  • Size may be too large for individual MP to represent effectively

• Not uncommon to create districts w/ smaller populations in remote areas

• Smaller provinces w guaranteed minimum of reps will necessarily have electoral districts that are below

Quantity of Reps

• Determined by population

• No provinces can have less MPs than senators, no matter how small the province is

• Not a fixed total but a fixed floor (constitutional and legislative guarantees)

• preserving ‘rep by pop’

General Election

Nation-wide elections, happens once GG dissolves parliament.

By-election

Held in a single constituency to fill a seat vacated midway through a Parliament by death/resignation of a MP.

Chief Electoral Officer

Politically neutral officers of Parliament that administer general elections. Runs Elections Canada. Cannot vote.

Returning Officers

Appointed by the chief electoral officer for each riding.

• Plans and organizes the delivery of access to voting

• Manages and controls financial, material and human resources

• Administers the Canada Elections Act and the Referendum Act in his or her electoral district, as well as related legislation, such as the Official Languages Act and the Financial Administration Act

• Communicates information to the public, candidates, political parties, field liaison officers and Elections Canada

• Contributes to the improvement of the electoral process

• Appoints deputy returning officer to run election at each poll

• Can only vote on a tie

Polls

Electoral districts are divided into smaller units, has about 250 voters

Enumerators

Appointed by the returning officer, prepares official voters list for the poll.

Election Spending Regulation

• Candidates must present returning officer with nomination papers signed by 100 voters from constituency if they want their name on ballot

• Must also leave a deposit of $1000 with returning officer and is reimbursed later

• Limits on the amount a candidate, party, third parties can spend

• Donations made to political parties are limited to $1750 and only individuals can donate, not political parties

Elections Canada

An independent, non-partisan agency that reports directly to Parliament and oversees all national elections.

Third Party Spending

• Not political parties but are interested in the election/outcome

• Spending >$500 must register as a third party

• Typically are interested in one particular issue/policy

• Can’t spend more than $600,000 nationally or $5000 in any riding

Scrutineers

• Two at each poll all day to observe process

• Keep candidates posted on whether known supporters have voted

• During closing, votes are counted by the deputy returning officer and scrutineers look on. Votes are officially counted by returning officer

Effects of SMP

1. Creates artificial majority gov’ts: rewards winners with more seats than it deserves

2. Handicaps smaller national parties: i.e. NDP and old PC party getting 2-% of vote but much less seat percentage

3. Increases regionalism: fostering growth of regional parties and therefore discourages national parties (i.e. BQ concentration in Quebec gives them an unfair advantage)

4. Magnifies regionalism: Highlights regional strengths and weaknesses of parties (i.e. Liberals and the West in 1980 got 20% of vote but only got 2 seats- 3%)

Proportional Representation (PR)

A family of electoral systems where each party’s seat share equals their vote as closely as possible (proportional). It exists in various forms: the party listen system (pure version) and mixed member proportional (MMP)

Party List System

Each voter casts a vote for a single party and each party is allocated seats based on its share of the vote. Seats are assigned to party-affiliated candidates on a party’s ranked electoral list.

Mixed-member proportional (MMP)

Some seats would be elected using party-list system (by party) and others by SMP (local candidate).

Alternative Vote/Preferential Ballot

Voters rank candidates in order of preference. There are various ways this concept can be implemented: majority run off election, ranked ballot, and single transferable vote.

Majority run-off

A candidate must win a majority (>50%) of the votes. If no one wins a majority, a runoff election is subsequently held with only two of the top candidates on the ballot

Preferential Ranked Ballot

Compressed run off. Voter ranks the candidates in order of preference rather than a single preference. When the votes are counter, if no candidate has a majority of first-place votes, then the second choices on the ballots of the lowest placed candidate are counter and added to the totals of those with the greater number of preference votes. Repeated until someone has a majority.

Single transferable Vote (STV)

Preferential voting combined with multi-member district system. Instead of electing just one MP in each single member riding (first past the post) voters elect a small team of MPs in a multi-member local district. They can rank in any order and across party lines.