‘Better Late Than Never’: Waterloo rally calls for proportional representation

People gathered in uptown Waterloo to call for a change to Canada's voting system.

People from across the political spectrum rallied in uptown Waterloo to push for change.

On Sunday the ‘Better Late Than Never’ rally was held at Waterloo Town Square to show support for proportional representation.

“Better Late than Never is our theme today because I think we’ve all heard it around us in our communities, everyone’s fed up with the way that the voting system works,” said Heline Chow, event co-organizer. “If it’s today and that’s the day that catalyzes the change, then it’s better now than we never do it, right?”

Under a proportional representation system, the number of representatives a party elects to the legislature would be directly linked to the percentage of the total vote the party receives. For example, if a party received 40 per cent of the overall vote, they would then get 40 per cent of the available seats.

Chow said the lack of this system was frustrating to voters she’s spoken to.

“I actually ran in the last election for Waterloo for the NDP and every person I talked to door-to-door expressed their frustration no matter which way they were voting,” she said.

Currently, Canada uses a first-past-the-post electoral system. Under that system, the candidate with the most votes is selected to represent the riding in the House of Commons as a member of Parliament, even if they receive less than 50 per cent of the overall support of their district.

“What that means is someone can win with 40 per cent, 30 per cent of the popular vote and that leaves now 60 to 70 per cent of the people very unhappy with the result,” explained Chow. “It also has all these other problems where it leads to something called strategic voting, where you feel like you have to vote against what you fear rather than for what you want.”

It’s a method that many Canadians have expressed their displeasure with over the years. In 2015, then-Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau promised to get rid of the first-past-the-post system and presented a 32-point plan to do so if he became prime minister. It is a promise that was never fulfilled once he was in office.

Recently, a panel of three Ontario Court of Appeal judges unanimously confirmed the constitutionality of the first-past-the-post model, despite a challenge claiming it violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ guarantee of effective representation.