Is proportional representation the way forward in Canadian politics?

In January last year, rabble’s parliamentary reporter Karl Nerenberg shared a piece calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh to revive the idea of electoral reform for Canada – and on the podcast, he joined Réal Lavergne, former president of Fair Vote Canada, to dissect Canada’s current voting system and discuss how a fairer way to vote might be accomplished in the future.  

Today, we’re revisiting the topic of proportional representation and electoral reform in Canada. 

Next year is an election year in Canada, and with a decline in popularity for current Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and with far-right extremism on the rise (and apparently influencing certain Conservative leaders across the country), many Canadians are already wondering how they might cast their vote. 

Joining us on rabble radio this week is Ted Cragg, a spokesperson for Fair Vote Canada. 

Ted Cragg has been involved with Fair Vote Canada since 2009, during the British Columbia referendum on electoral reform of that year. He previously served as president of the organization's national capital region chapter. He currently lives in Saint-Léonard-d'Aston, Québec, a province showing promising signs of being the first to adopt proportional representation in Canada.

Fair Vote Canada seeks broad, multi-partisan support to embody in new legislation the basic principle of democratic representative government and ultimate safeguard of a free society: the right of each citizen to equal treatment under election laws and equal representation in legislatures.

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