Reform needed to stem low voter turnout: study
Proportional representation advocated to restore faith in government
Joan Bryden
Southam News
OTTAWA - Canada should consider adopting a system of proportional representation
in a bid to reverse the disturbing decline in voter turnout during federal elections,
a recent study has concluded.
Moreover, the study suggests more Canadians might be persuaded to cast ballots if
their MPs were given more independence and clout.
"The challenge is to convince citizens that
elections matter, either because their own
votes make a difference or because their
elected representatives do," says the study,
prepared by the Centre for Research and
Information on Canada.
Voter turnout has dropped repeatedly over the past three federal elections to an
all-time low of 61% in November, 2000, from 75% in 1988.
According to an Elections Canada survey, 37% of non-voters in 2000 said they did
not bother to cast ballots because the election didn't matter or they didn't like
their choices. Another 34% said they were unable to vote because of work, illness
or travel; another 16% said they were not registered and lacked information about
how to get on the voters list.
In its study, CRIC, the research arm of the Montreal-based Council for Canadian Unity,
acknowledges there are a variety of reasons for the decline in voter participation,
some of which may correct themselves over time, while others may be irreversible.
For example, it notes that turnout tends to go up when an election is hotly contested
or when a major issue is a stake. Because the 1997 and 2000 elections were relatively
uncompetitive and uninteresting, fewer Canadians felt compelled to vote. That situation
could change once a viable alternative to the ruling Liberals emerges or a controversial
issue becomes the focus of an election campaign.
As well, the decision to eliminate door-to-door enumeration in favour of a permanent
voters' list, first used in the 2000 campaign, caused some confusion. The new system
put the onus on voters to register themselves and some found it difficult to figure
out how to do so.
The study says the decline in turnout also may be partly due to an irreversible change
in Canadians' values and attitudes. Canadians are better educated, more informed,
more independent in their thinking, less attached to their community, less accepting
of authority and tradition, and less likely to be loyal to a particular political
party, all of which reduces the traditional sense of a civic obligation to vote.
But the study concludes there are other attitudinal changes -- in particular, the
increasing cynicism about politics -- that could be reversed by reforming the electoral
system and Parliament. It cites surveys showing Canadians' confidence in governments
has dropped from about 60% in the 1980s to 40% in the 1990s.
Such data "clearly implies that the problem lies with the way the political
system is working. The point here is not that citizens have changed but that the
political system is perceived to be less and less responsive to people's concerns."
The study concludes the first-past-the-post system, in which the candidate with the
most votes in a riding wins, is the biggest culprit. The system allows a party to
win a majority of Commons seats with less than 40% of the popular vote and enables
a party with strong regional support to win more seats than other parties that may
have won more votes nationally.
CRIC recommends that Elections Canada be given the mandate to establish a commission
of inquiry into the electoral system and to ask Canadians in a referendum if they
want to adopt a system of proportional representation -- by which a party's share
of the seats in the House of Commons would more accurately reflect its share of the
popular vote.
CRIC argues that PR would ensure that every vote counts and would make elections
more competitive and interesting.
The study also contends that relaxing party discipline, allowing more free votes
and strengthening the influence of MPs on parliamentary committees could further
persuade Canadians that their choice of elected representatives makes a difference.
However, it allows that there is "no solid evidence" such measures introduced
in other countries have boosted voter turnout.
The study rules out mandatory voting as a solution, although it has proved effective
in Australia, Belgium and Greece. CRIC concludes such a move would be unpopular and
would only mask the underlying causes of low turnout.
Despite its recommendations, CRIC concedes there may be nothing that ca be done to
increase voter turnout. But the study argues that consideration of some "modest
reforms" is necessary because the long-term damage caused by low turnout is
so great.
Among other things, the study says the decline in voter participation is most acute
among the young and the poor. As turnout continues to decline, the electorate thus
becomes "less and less representative of society as a whole," with disadvantaged
groups no longer having any influence.
Moreover, declining turnout means the government has increasingly less legitimacy
and moral authority to govern. The study notes with alarm that the proportion of
the electorate that voted in 2000 for the winning party was smaller than the proportion
that did not vote at all.
Perhaps most importantly, CRIC argues that low voter turnout increases Canadians'
sense of disconnect with each other and diminishes their sense of shared values.
And that, the study contends, "does not place Canada in a very good position
to meet the challenges that will likely befall it in the years to come," such
as globalization or another referendum on Quebec independence.
"The more citizens become non-participants in key political
events such as
elections and lose respect for political institutions, the greater
the likelihood
that appeals to shared values and common purpose will fall on
deaf ears."
© 2002 National Post Online