CREDIT: ZERBOR / ISTOCK / THINKSOCK
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promises electoral reform within 18 months of being elected.

‘First past the post’ is Canada’s current political electoral format. It is a broken system that does not truly represent what Canadians want. The Liberal Party won a majority government this election with only 40 per cent of the popular vote. In 2011, the Conservative Party won a majority government with only 39 per cent of the votes.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed during his campaign that this election would be the last one under the ‘first past the post’ format. Electoral reform is possibly the largest campaign promise that was made by the Liberals, and it is a critical one.

“It is crucial that we have this discussion,” said Peter Fragiskatos, the MP of London North Centre.

There are many alternatives available, such as ranked ballots, mixed member proportional and single transferable votes.

Fragiskatos beat out Susan Truppe of the Conservative Party.

Fragiskatos prefers the ranked ballots to the other forms of proportional representation. This method allows you to rank the candidates in the order of your preference and the first candidate to reach 50 per cent of the votes is the one elected. If no candidate reaches the 50 per cent mark on the first count, the candidate with the least amount of votes is then eliminated and their votes are reallocated to the voter’s second choice, and so on.

Mixed member proportional allows you to vote for your local candidate and for a federal level candidate.

For example, if you want to vote for the NDP, but you do not like your local NDP candidate, with mixed member proportional you can vote for the NDP federally, but also vote for the Green Party candidate to be your local MP.

In the single transferable vote format, we would have larger ridings and more than one MP would be elected to each riding.

Fragiskatos said that the problem with these other methods is that they almost always create a minority government, which typically only has a lifespan of one to one and a half years.

The Liberal party has promised that we would have a different electoral system in place within 18 months of being elected. In the meantime, we can expect for Prime Minister Trudeau and the Liberal MP’s to speak with experts and Canadians to determine the option that will work best for Canada.

“The government will not make this decision on their own,” Fragiskatos said.

Fragiskatos also stated that he is open to having a discussion with his constituents regarding any questions, comments or concerns about electoral reform.