Only 68% of Canadian citizens voted in this recent election. Let that sink in — a large amount of citizens are letting other voters decide our future. Furthermore, a majority of people voting are 50 years old or older.

Democracy is the foundation of Canada’s government which leads and manages the country. Justin Trudeau and the liberal party called the election early, which means people get to vote for their chosen party, and we get to learn about this. For the past 5 to 7 weeks, people around Canada have come together to pick our leaders.

The candidate research varies significantly from person to person; that’s why a straightforward campaign, candidate signs and ad marketing, go a long way in the outreach of your party. There is no right way to address every problem, and people’s values don’t always align with the party options. The economy, social programs, social issues, the environment, and other issues need balance. So what makes the leaders think they are the best for the job. Each leader tries to make a plan to face our current and upcoming issues to pitch to Canada.

The election, however, does not come without consequences. The whole process costs around $500 million that could have been used for solving more important problems. Which raises the question, why did the liberal party do an election at this time? The liberals wanted a majority in the House of Parliament to have more control over decisions. However, with hindsight, we know the liberals did not achieve their goal, which could be related to multiple factors. Did the cost and timing hurt their campaign, were they more intrigued by the other candidates in their riding or did they want a leadership change?

Voting should bring us together and is more than just a right, represented in the video above. Citizen participation seems like a simple idea, but over 30% of people choose not to vote. It’s vital for our democracy and is a responsibility for us to build a stronger Canada. It might appear pointless to vote since there are 35 million other people, but you can help place the power of someone you like for the municipal and federal government. 

Every vote should matter — but it doesn’t. Canadians avoid voting for smaller parties since not many people back then, making their vote would be wasted. Rather than voting for their favourite party, they vote for different options, so their least favourite party doesn’t get into office. This dilemma plagues our voting system and wastes the votes of many Canadians.

Everyone sits differently on the political spectrum allowing for more party variation and voter preference. With the plurality system, everyone wants one candidate, and the candidate with the most votes wins. This system works well with two parties, the majority of people preferring the winner, but as more candidates enter, the problems start to arise. If there are three parties, the “spoiler effect” occurs. The voters of the party with the least amount of votes are left with a dilemma; do they choose their honest favourite or choose for second closest party strategically so your least favourite party doesn’t win. The argument towards voting honestly is that you want your party to gain support and eventually win. However, that will mean your least favourite party will win a lot more times before you earn enough support. It’s always hard for people to focus on the future stakes, so many only consider two parties. I believe there are two options to fix this problem and make a better Canada:

Instant runoff: Rank candidates best to worst 

This system replicates the results of an honest plurality voting, but now the last place is eliminated, and the election is rerun, now counting the second-place votes. However, now we see the results of the plurality vote if everyone voted strategically. Depending on the many candidates there are, this process can be repeated as many times as needed. Instant runoff incentivizes for people to vote honestly but aren’t penalized when their favourite candidate gets last, so they can at least get their second favourite. However, problems aren’t entirely fixed. When candidates are roughly on a line between the other two parties, the “centre squeeze phenomenon” occurs (watch the video down below at 7:00 to learn more). 

Approval: Vote as many as you like

This system allows people to vote for multiple parties, and a new candidate would only change the vote totals by winning it. There are still reasons to vote strategically vote. Voting for all three candidates is the same as not voting, so they should vote for their top 2 candidates. Voters can purposely betray their non-favourite party, so their favourite wins the election, but as this increases, the last place option gets closer to winning it (this is called “the chicken dilemma).” To its extreme, everyone votes for their favourite, which is essentially the plurality system. However, the approval system will always make people vote for their favourite candidate.

Watch more about alternative voting systems:

The plurality system over-inflates the Liberals and conservative votes while hurting the chances of the smaller parties sharing that power. I believe Instant-runoff and Approval voting would benefit Canada immensely by having a wider view on topics, representing the whole of Canada more. Smaller parties would profit much greater as opposed to the plurality system but would keep the integral structure of our government. There is no way of saying which system is the best without more real-world examples, but Canada could be a start to better democracy worldwide, showing that change is possible. The idea of instant-runoff voting interests me the most as it encourages people to vote for their honest favourite while allowing people to fall back on a more popular party. Either way, both options would make every vote count!