Once again — the shaft

Oh, who will rid us of this troublesome voting system?

So spoke King Henry II in 1170, loosely paraphrased. The king was referring to a priest, one Thomas Becket to be precise, not voting systems, but his frustration was certainly no greater than ours. In the recent election, our troublesome voting system, first-past-the-post, once again distorted the will of the people. The results were Conservatives 124 seats, Liberals 103, the Bloc 51, the NDP 29 and the Greens a fat none. If the parties had been awarded seats in accordance with the wishes of Canadian voters, the distribution would have been Conservatives 112, Liberals 93, the Bloc 32, the NDP 54 and the Greens 14.

The Conservatives and the Liberals did very well by the distortion, and the Bloc did superbly. The NDP and the Greens took big hits. The Bloc is handsomely rewarded for ignoring the entire country except Quebec while the NDP and the Greens are punished for appealing to all Canadians. What could be more foolish in a regionalized nation than rewarding a separatist party with far more representation in parliament than it deserves?

And many citizens votes count for nothing. In my hometown, Calgary, Conservatives win by such massive majorities those who support any other party might as well stay home. If they chose instead to watch the soaps or play video games, the election results would not change one iota. Only a proportional voting system will give their votes value.

But who will make the change? The Conservatives or the Liberals when they profit from the corruption inherent in the current system? The prospects are not good there. The Bloc? when they are getting 60 per cent more seats than they deserve now? Not likely.

That leaves the NDP. They would gain impressively from a proportional system, and indeed had an opportunity to leverage change out of the Liberals in the last parliament, but they blew their chance. However, they have, as occasionally happens in life, been given a second chance. With skillful negotiation around the right issues, they may be able to pry change out of the current parliament. Those of us who want every vote to count will be watching.