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."

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