Electoral Democracy in the Provinces

Abstract

Like citizens of many other Western democracies, Canadians are feeling less confident & trusting about their government's institutions & processes. Canada's electoral process is responsible for some of the frustration & mistrust, especially in smaller towns & less populated provinces, where voters are well aware that their votes on the national slate will not actually count because of the unfair system. However, Canadians are members of two polities -- national & provincial -- & the provincial governments are free to vary their constitutions, including their electoral systems. Democracy at the provincial level is at least as important as at the national level. This paper draws on the literature & official data to tabulate the state of democracy in the provinces, examining indicators of development, redistribution rules, equality of the vote, qualifications for voting, qualifications for candidacy, party & election finance, election outcomes, & provincial rankings on electoral democracy. Using the national quotient -- one person, one vote -- the federal electoral map is more unequal than any of the provinces except for Nova Scotia. Other national-level inequalities are noted as well. Tables, Appendixes. J. Stanton