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    Canadians sharply divided on parliamentary seat representation by population: Poll - The Hub
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    Canadians sharply divided on parliamentary seat representation by population: Poll – The Hub

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    21 Comments

    2. gorschkov on

      Probably depends on where you reside in the country because some regions are definitely overrepresented when looking at seats per capita and some regions are underrepresented when looking at the same metric. 

      Especially when you look at Supreme Court seat allocation by region than Western Canada is severely underrepresented.

      Edit: after reading the article it surprised me that Atlantic Canada supported a fairer distribution of seats as much as they do because they would be some of the most impacted people by it.  

    3. WattleWaddler on

      66% nationally in favour of proportional representation? This is amazing news. Is electoral reform possible?

      Personally, I favour the MMP system that New Zealand and ~~Australia~~ **Germany** use, although really ANY electoral reform from the current system would be good.

    4. Commercial_Raise3378 on

      However, it doesn’t matter how many people are in the area if the party the mp was elected to is doing party lines and not actually listening to, and advocating for, what the people in the area need.

    6. feb914 on

      How come Atlantic Canadians both feel under represented in federal parliament while wanting an equal population per riding? They’re currently over represented in federal parliament relative to their population size. Making it equal population per riding will make them lose seat share than now. 

    7. NavyDean on

      Who is honestly arguing that the Americam system with unproportional representation is better?

      Ridings should be 100k to 120k people max.

    8. mmckaig on

      Any area of separatist Quebec shouldn’t have a say about Canada’s future.

    9. senturion on

      Even if seats in the house were properly distributed, the East would still hold about 65% of the seats.

      Any losses in the Atlantic provinces would be more than made up for by gains in Ontario. Alberta and BC getting more seats would not be enough to offset this.

      The problem is math. It’s not discrimination, it’s not unfair, it’s not us vs them. It’s just math.

    10. Iced_Snail on

      I’d be in favour of reforming the senate and having PR there. Make it actually valuable as a 2nd chamber.

    11. nelson6364 on

      This is very easy to fix. Make each MP’s vote equal to the number of people in their riding. This would eliminate the need to redistribute seats and end the practise of constantly increasing the number of MPs. Everyone would have equal representation in the House of Commons. This could also be done with the Senate.

    12. Monkey_Pox_Patient_0 on

      I would rather a house of people who have won a plurality of votes from all walks of life, within individual ridings, as opposed to one drawn from pools of specific special interests from across the country.

      In our system you can’t just appeal to environmentalists or anti-immigration or other single issue people. In a proportionate system you could draw from all those groups from across the country and win seats. Our system punishes you for going after extreme, fringe people. You cannot win anything without appealing to everyday, mainstream Canadians.

      I also think the relative ease of tipping a riding one way or the other is the best way for the electorate to be heard and have their needs considered.

      I would reform the Senate, but I am very happy with how the House of Commons currently works.

    14. Ancient_Wisdom_Yall on

      Some people’s votes being worth 9 times what someone else’s votes are is a greater atrocity to democracy than first past the post.

    16. Daebak49 on

      They need to add more seats to BC, Alberta and maybe Ontario but Quebec will probably want more seats as well as they’ll cry that it’s eroding their Quebecois influence.

    17. manniesalado on

      What Alberta needs to do is take in a lot more immigrants to gain more seats the fair way.

    18. abc123DohRayMe on

      Canada is a country comprised of distinct regions. Some regions have been under and some over represented in government. Proportional representation may not be the answer. Maybe confederation needs to be re-examined to recognize our regional makeup and let each region become more autonomous.

    19. IAmNotARacoon on

      We really just need a system where the elected representatives are proportional to the votes of the people. We might even be crazy and call it something like proportional representation.

    20. daisystar on

      Something I’ve felt as an Albertan in the last 10+ years I’ve been able to vote in federal elections – it massively sucks when you’re watching the results pour in and they’ve already announced a majority/minority election and the party who’s in power… and they haven’t even tallied up and announced any of our province’s seats yet.

    21. Wolfreak76 on

      We should just make provinces so they are sized so each one has an equal population, or at least ignore province boundaries and make equal population federal voting blocks. Places like Toronto might be 2 provinces.