The Mowat Centre’s Matthew Mendelsohn sketches out why Canadian electoral boundaries deviate so widely from the principle of representation by population and proposes a model for re-drawing electoral boundaries in the future that balances the interests of all provinces.
The Mowat Note “Voter Equality and Other Canadian Values: Finding the Right Balance”, written by Matthew Mendelsohn and Sujit Choudhry, identifies the constitutional, legislative and policy reasons why Canada so dramatically deviates from the principle of voter equality. It then explains if and how each of these factors can or should be addressed at present. It concludes with a proposed framework for a compromise piece of legislation that would deal with many, but not all, of the issues that produce such a skewed electoral map.
Related links:
- Maytree Policy Insights – Democracy and Participation
- Maytree Policy in Focus, Issue 1: Listening to the voices of newcomers will create stronger cities (PDF)
- Michael Pal and Sujit Choudhry. “Is Every Ballot Equal? Visible-Minority Vote Dilution in Canada” (2007) IRPP Choices. Vol. 13, no. 1. (PDF)
(Our apologies for the slight out of audio sync that occurs for a short time in the middle of the video.)
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