Liberal party logo
Simple enough. Preferential balloting, where you rank your choices.
The Liberal Party, occupying the center, is the second choice of a lot of Canadians.
For example, in the 1997 federal election, the Liberals won 38 percent of the vote but captured 51 percent of the seats. The phoniest majority government in Canadian history. A study of voter preferences in that election projected that the Liberals would have gained 57 percent of the seats with the same level of support had AV been used.
In addition, ranked ballots tend to exacerbate regional strongholds, leaving those who support other parties even more unrepresented.
Canadian elections are often very close, and come down to a few percentage points, magnified massively by first-past-the-post. Ranked ballots would magnify that even more, but do so in a way that favors the Liberal party.
Trudeau promised electoral reform. This is the most likely “reform.” As usual, reform will mean “giving more to those who don’t need it.”
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