A Solid Majority of Canadians Have Had Their Fill of First-Past-the-Post Elections

A new Angus Reid poll finds three out of five respondents were dissatisfied with FPTP in the last election. But, hey, what do they want - democracy? 

"For many, the election result would have provided more satisfaction had it been under a different seat allocation method. When shown the seat distribution under first-past-the-post (FPTP) and proportional representation (PR) systems, three-in-five (61%) say they preferred the hypothetical makeup of the House under the latter. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been criticized over the past six years by those who expected his promise of proportional representation in the 2015 election campaign to come to fruition. While he argued there was “no consensus” for reform after he first got elected with a majority government, Trudeau said he was open to electoral reform again near the end of the most recent campaign.

"Nonetheless, as Canadians adjust to a new reality that looks almost identical to the old one, most would like their party leaders to give it another go whenever another federal election is called. More than four-in-five NDP (83%) and Bloc Québécois (90%) voters would have their leader back for the next campaign, while fewer, but still a majority, of Liberal (64%) and CPC (54%) voters, would keep Trudeau and Erin O’Toole on respectively. Even among those least enthusiastic supporters – Conservative voters – just 25 per cent say O’Toole should step aside."




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