The Democracy Of Canadian Society - 1426 Words

Canadians, like citizens of numerous countries around the world, take pride in living in a democratic nation. While Canada is unequivocally a democracy, there are certain aspects of the system that call into question its true democratic nature. The electoral system Canada currently has in place is undemocratic and unjust, as it undermines millions of citizens’ rights to vote. This has influenced a great deal of subsequent apathy and indifference toward politics in the masses, and democracy no longer seems to be a benchmark of Canadian society. It is imperative that Canada implement sweeping electoral reform to reintroduce balance and fairness into politics, and reinject democracy into Canadian society. The current First Past the Post, or†¦show more content†¦The first step is the same; votes are tallied up for candidates, and whichever ones have the most votes are sent to Parliament Hill. This step fills only half the seats in the House of Commons. Once this process is completed, attention shifts to the second part of the ballot, as individual votes for each party are counted. Once these numbers are announced, the remaining half of the seats are distributed among all parties, in accordance with how many seats had already been won in the first step, to ensure the final seat count is proportionate to the percentage of votes each party received. Since the second half of the seats are assigned to a party and not to a specific candidate, it is the parties duty to make a list of the candidates, those of which were not e lected within a riding, that they would like to appoint to enter parliament. Not only is the riding system and local representation maintained, but MMP also introduces a system where proportionality and equal representation also takes precedence (â€Å"Mixed Member Proportional Representation Explained†). It should be noted that certain parts of Canada have attempted to usher in electoral reform in the past. Alas, when various types of reform, including mixed member proportional and single transferable vote, were proposed to voters in