Ontario’s next election could come sooner than expected if Doug Ford calls a snap vote. The last two elections highlighted the main flaw in our voting system, with one party securing 100% of the power with only about 40% of the vote. This isn’t about which party won—it’s about fixing a system that allows such disproportionate results. We need strong leadership on proportional representation and for all parties to work together to make every vote truly count.
So far, 7,500 of you have signed the petition urging Marit Stiles, Bonnie Crombie, and Mike Schreiner to include proportional representation and a citizens’ assembly in their election platforms – help us increase that number to at least 10,000 signatures!
We’ve reached out to these leaders to request a meeting and present the petition, but so far, we haven’t received a response.
Let’s show them that electoral reform is a priority in the upcoming election. Help us get their attention—if you haven’t already signed the petition, add your name today!
Democratic Reform in the News
Check out the latest news on democracy and electoral reform from around the world:
- Globe & Mail Editorial Board on Trudeau’s Electoral Reform regret
- The Walrus – After a Decade of Broken Promises and Controversies, Justin Trudeau bows out
- New York Times opinion piece on How to Fix America’s Two-Party Problem with Proportional Representation
- Could Proportional Representation end France’s political chaos?
- Proportional Representation one of several recommendations to overhaul Bangladesh’s electoral system
Did you know?
“In 1876, the Canadian government passed the Indian Act, which was meant to control the lives of Indigenous people and was used as a tool for assimilation. The Act did not attempt to acknowledge the many forms of Indigenous governance that already existed. Instead, it ignored them and imposed a European governance system. The Act created elected chiefs and band councils to govern Indigenous communities, and only allowed adult males to vote.
The Act also declared if an Indigenous person wanted to have the right to vote in a federal election, they must become “enfranchised”, which meant giving up their “Indian status”. This often meant having to leave the safety and support of their community. It also meant being cut off from their culture. As well, enfranchised Indigenous people lost access to their Treaty rights. In the 1920 and 30s, the Canadian government even gave itself the power to remove Indian Status against the will of an Indigenous person through forcible enfranchisement. Enfranchisement became a tool for assimilation of Indigenous people.
It was not until 1960 that those deemed status Indians by the government gained the right to vote without having to be enfranchised. Inuit men and women had won the right to vote slightly earlier, in 1950 – but ballot boxes were not in all communities until 1962, and communities without a ballot box were unable to vote.”
The chaotic story of the right to vote in Canada, Canadian Museum of Human Rights