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Electoral reform to be discussed by Cullen in Ottawa next week

Members of Parliament could be one step closer to implementing electoral reform in Canada.

A meeting will be held in Ottawa next week with different experts from around the world looking at what might work if the country changes it’s voting system.

Skeena-Bulkley Valley M-P, Nathan Cullen says most members are in favour of a proportional system. “We feel good about systems that are proportional where if a party gets 20% of the vote they get 20% of the seats simply because it makes sure every vote in the country is measured equally.”

Cullen says they would like to avoid another scenario where a party gets 40% of the vote and 100% of the power.

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One thing Cullen doesn’t want to see is a ranked ballot system like Australia’s where residents mark their preferences by writing a 1 or 2 on their ballot.

If no candidate gets a majority in the first go-round, the bottom is dropped and the votes are re-allocated until someone reaches 50%.

Cullen believes that system isn’t suitable at the federal level.

“It actually makes the problem of false majorities worse than better. It can work when you are electing a mayor and council but at the national level it doesn’t really work because people don’t get their first choice they may get their second, third or even fourth choice which kind of defeats the whole purpose.”

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