Canada’s Voting System
First-Past-the-Post-System
Read pp. 253-254
1. How does it work?
- when the votes are counted the candidate with the most votes in each riding is declared a
winner
- the party with the most ridings forms the government
The following is a hypothetical example in which the winning party does not win the most votes. Read
through carefully and fill in the blanks below.
Riding A (10,000 people)
100% voter turnout
10, 000 people voting
All 10,000 voted for the same person
 1 candidate elected by 10, 000 people
Riding B (10,000 people)
30% voter turnout
3,000 people voting
All 3,000 voted for the same person
1 candidate elected by 3,000 people
Based on the above, if the PC Party wins two ridings and 10 000 people voted in each
riding the PC Party would have 20 000 votes and 2 seats in parliament.
If another party such as the NDP wins five ridings and only 3000 people voted in each
riding the NDP would have 15 000 votes and 5 seats in parliament.
a) Which party has the most votes? PC Party
b) Which party wins the election? NDP
2. Complete the following table on the 1997 election and then answer the questions below.
Party
Bloc Quebecois
Canadian Alliance
Liberal
New Democratic Party
# of seats
44
59
156
21
Progressive
Conservatives
Others
Total Seats
19
2
301
% of seats
15
20
52
7
6
less than 1%
% of votes
10.7%
19.4
38.4
11.1
18.9
1.5
b) Explain why the Liberal Party won despite having less than 50% of the popular vote.
The Liberals managed to get just over half of the seats. All of the other parties received less individual
votes. The majority of votes cast does not matter as much as getting more votes than other candidates.
c) Compare the results for the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative parties.
Despite a nearly identical percentage of the popular vote, why do their number of seats in parliament
differ so significantly? (Referring back to #1 may help you answer.)
Canadian alliance won more ridings than P.C.’s, although % of votes cast is almost the same.
3.Why do you think some people might object to the first-past the post method of electing
candidates?
- results might not accurately reflect the majority of the voters’ interests ( no absolute majority needed
in order to win)
-gov’t can often take control with less than 50% of the vote
- present system “accentuates regionalism” -> particular regions might give heavy support to a
particular party ( helping them with the election).
4. Complete the following chart comparing two possible alternatives to FPTP.
Read Counterpoints: p.253-255, The Electoral System
Alternatives
Explanation
Advantages
Disadvantages
Proportional
Representation
- the number of votes
the entire party
receives corresponds
to the number of seats
it wins in Parliament
Fair: more true
representation of
what the people want.
Areas of Canada might
not have a say because of
a lack of local ridings.
-better representation
for small parties,
interests of minorities
Governments must be
formed by coalitions
between parties.
Preferential Ballot
- voters are able to
rank the candidates in
order of preference
- If no candidate
receives a majority,
the one with the
lowest number of
votes is dropped, and
their second place
votes are then
distributed until
winner emerges
Allows for all
representatives to be
taken into account by
voter.
You can choose your
favourite and least
favourite: first choice
and second choice.
- might take a long time
to make decisions,
leading to political
deadlock
The winner may only
have the votes of a small
part of the population,
and may only represent
one area of the country.
Complicated: takes a
long time to count the
votes.