Political reforms -courtesy Citizens' Assembly, B.C.

Did you know that . . . .
in November 2004 45 percent of the eligible 1.9 million Albertans voted - the lowest figure in the last 60 years?

It seems that every time there is an election whether in Canada or in Alberta there are two issues that seem to emerge consistently. Both are under consideration in various ways some where in the country but neither of them in Alberta.

The first of these "reforms" is compulsory voting. A number of countries have electoral systems in which voting is compulsory and not voting can result in possible fines. Although compulsory voting in recent times began in Belgium in 1892, perhaps the most famous is Australia which instituted compulsory voting nationally in 1925. A brief look at this issue is available from the Participatory Democracy Group's website at www.socialaction.ca. However though compulsory voting in Australia results in turnouts of between 93 and 96 percent, the Australian Electoral Commission suggests that there are arguments both for and against the system. The arguments in favour of the system seem fairly obvious. Those opposed claim the system is "undemocratic" by forcing people to vote, that those with little knowledge of the issues or little interest in them end up having to vote, and it costs to check whether on-voters have "valid and sufficient" reasons for not voting.

ARTA © 2005

The second of the reforms involves the adoption of proportional representation - that is the seats in the Legislature being allocated based on the percentage of votes each party receives. A simple look at the November 2004 results will show why, in Alberta, the governing party would not be interested in adopting such a system. There are 83 seats available in the Alberta Legislature. Here are the results.

Party	%	Current Seats	Proportional Represent.
Progressive Cons.	47.07	62	39
Liberal	29.05	16	24
New Democrats	9.79	4	8
Alberta Alliance	9.10	1	8
Green Party	2.75	0	2
Social Credit	1.27	0	1
Separatist Party	0.97	0	1

No governing party would be interested in giving up a comfortable and substantial majority simply to satisfy, what may well be in Alberta, a minority call for a fairer system of representation. Fair Vote Canada (www.fairvotecanada.org) reports that Quebec has announced a draft bill for a mixed proportional voting system and P.E.I. is planning a vote next November on a mixed proportional system. Many are calling for something to be done federally but the question remains how many Albertans would be interested in seeing a proportional representation system in their own province?

 

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