With cases across the province skyrocketing, Premier Doug Ford recently announced a raft of new measures including a stay-at-home order to combat COVID-19. Noticeably lacking from the announcement was paid sick leave, a much-needed protection for Ontario’s workers.
Without paid sick leave, workplace-based outbreaks could flourish, hampering the fight against COVID-19. Workers who cannot afford to stay home when they are sick negatively impact not just their own health but the health of their communities. This makes paid sick leave an essential public health policy.
Despite increasing calls from health professionals and opposition parties, Ford has stubbornly refused to bring back the policy he abolished in 2018. Since Ford has a majority government, a majority of Ontarians must agree with him, right?
Well, no. In the last Ontario election, 60% of the province voted for a party that would have kept or enhanced the paid sick leave program. This voting majority was ultimately disregarded by our antiquated First Past the Post voting system which then gave Ford a false majority government with only 40% of the vote. Wielding absolute power, Ford quickly moved to abolish paid sick leave.
Why would Ford reject a policy with such broad support? Because First Past the Post doesn’t deliver what the majority wants, it delivers what the largest party’s base wants. And in this case, the largest base belongs to the PCs who don’t think paid sick leave is a good idea.
If the 2018 election was held under proportional representation, the resulting government would actually reflect the will of the voters, what a concept! This means paid sick leave would still be in effect and workers wouldn’t have to choose between financial security or infecting their colleagues with a deadly disease.
In the end, we’re almost a year into a pandemic that may not be over for many more months. All while our cases skyrocket and common-sense policies supported by a majority of the province are ignored. Regardless of your political affiliation or personal preferences, it doesn’t take much to see that false majorities are hazardous to everyone’s health.
Join us February 1st for #BrokenPromiseDay ?
On February 1st, 2017, Justin Trudeau’s majority Liberal government abandoned its promise to reform the federal electoral system. Trudeau’s about-face was a perfect demonstration of why Canadians wanted proportional representation in the first place: so one party – and person – doesn’t have all the power.
Join us this upcoming Monday, February 1st for a national social media campaign to get Trudeau to keep his promise by creating a National Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.
Show your support by sending a broken heart to @JustinTrudeau in your message along with #BrokenPromiseDay?. We’ll be sharing messages and graphics all day!
The prairies were once home to working systems of PR! In the 1920s, provincial legislatures in Alberta and Manitoba adopted forms of proportional representation that, in the case of Alberta, lasted nearly forty years.
Similar to the rural-urban proportional system proposed in a recent referendum in British Columbia, the system used in the prairies was a combination of different systems in rural and urban areas. For example, whereas most of Manitoba used a single-winner ranked voting system, Winnipeg used a system in which multiple representatives were elected using ranked voting.
Political scientist Harold Jansen studied these experiments in fair voting and came to the conclusion that they were successful in creating more proportional legislatures. However, repeated attempts by parties to change the system for an edge eventually led to both provinces returning to first-past-the-post. Just like the attempts to create fair voting at the federal level, proportional representation in Alberta and Manitoba was doomed by cynical political parties.
The success of these experiments proves proportional representation can work in Canada and does indeed create a fairer system for everyone.