Voter apathy is such a widespread phenomenon that it became necessary to come up with a catchy title for people who just don't care about politics. According to the numbers collected by Statistics Canada following the 2011 Federal Election, “more people chose not to vote than voted for any one party.”

Even among journalists, politics is a difficult topic to address for those who don't regularly cover it. The terminology is confusing, politicians lie constantly, and it all changes at the drop of a hat. It's easy to understand — and even identify with — people who just want to check out and not think about it.

The way that the Canadian Electoral System is set up is a major contributor to the problem because of the undemocratic nature of the system we call First Past the Post. In the current system, as soon as a party or an individual gets over half of the votes that were cast, they've won the election. While it seems like a legitimate system, because the nature of democracy is that the majority always wins, the shortfall is that in many cases the vote is between up to four candidates and the winner might only receive 30 per cent of the votes that were cast. Beyond the potential for a ‘minority wins' situation, the politicians elected by the other 61 per cent have little opportunity to fight for their constituents interests because they don't belong to the governing party.

In the 2011 federal election, Prime Minister Stephen Harper received only 39 per cent of the popular vote, meaning that 61 per cent of people who voted in the election voted for someone other than him. When you take into consideration that only 61 per cent of eligible voters bothered to cast a ballot that year, it turns out that the prime minister of Canada was elected by about a quarter of the population. While it's still true that Canadian elections are democratic, having a leader elected by a quarter of the population doesn't scream democracy.

On September 18, there was a protest on Parliament Hill in Ottawa that received almost no publicity because they've been happening for years. The protest was in support of Proportional Representation, an alternative electoral system used by Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden and other juggernauts of the democratic world. In it, parties are required to publish a list of candidates, beginning with their most publicized/popular candidates, who would be appointed based on the percentage of the vote the party received. In a country like Canada, with 308 seats in the House, receiving 1 per cent of the vote would mean the party's top three candidates would be guaranteed a seat. The benefits are twofold: first, this system would eliminate much of the hyperbole that is synonymous with politics, as parties will be focusing on delivering a cohesive message across the country instead of trying to win each riding individually. Second, and more importantly, the system does just what the title implies and ensures that every vote counts.
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