Here's a table showing how few of our sitting MPs actually had support of majority of their constituents, as measured by votes cast. It is possible that if the contest had been reduced to just two candidates, the winning candidate under FPTP would have been proven to be the choice of majority but such was not proven under our existing single-winner plurality FPTP system.
Twice in Canadian history, in Single-winner plurality, a seat was filled by a candidate who had support from less than 18 percent of the voters.
In Alberta, 1944, in WWII, Canadian Army representative
In Toronto 2014 city election, Ward 16
Number Percent Percent elected of MPs of MPs
through elected elected
Number majority through by minority
Election date Parliament of districts of votes majority of district votes
2021-09-20 44th 338 118 35 65
2019-10-21 43th 338 124 37 63
2015-10-19 42th 338 132 39 61
2011-05-02 41st 308 145 47 53
2008-10-14 40th 308 118 38 62
2006-01-23 39th 308 123 40 60
2004-06-28 38th 308 136 44 56
2000-11-27 37th 301 155 52 48
1997-06-02 36th 301 104 35 65
1993-10-25 35th 295 164 56 44
1988-11-21 34th 295 115 39 61
1984-09-04 33th 282 148 52 48
1980-02-18 32nd 282 144 51 49
1979-05-22 31st 282 152 54 46
1974-07-08 30th 264 148 56 44
1972-10-30 29th 264 119 45 55
1968-06-25 28th 264 120 45 55
1965-11-08 27th 263 (2 MM) 115 44 56
1963-04-08 26th 263 (2 MM) 115 44 56
1962-06-18 25th 263 (2 MM) 99 38 62
1958-03-31 24th 263 (2 MM) 197 75 25
1957-06-10 23rd 263 (2 MM) 158 60 40
1953-08-10 22nd 263 (2 MM) 156 59 41
1949-06-27 21st 260 (2 MM) 145 56 44
1945-06-11 20th 243 (2 MM) 98 40 60
1940-03-26 19th 243 (2 MM) 164 67 33
1935-10-14 18th 243 (2 MM) 103 42 58
1930-07-28 17th 241 (3 MM) 215 89 11
1926-09-14 16th 241 (3 MM) 220 91 9
1925-10-29 15th 241 (3 MM) 184 76 24
1921-12-06 14th 230 (3 MM) 154 67 33
1917-12-17 13th 230 (3 MM) 222 97 3
1911-09-21 12th 218 (3 MM) 208 95 5
1908-10-26 11th 218 (3 MM) 205 94 6
1904-11-03 10th 211 (3 MM) 201 95 5
1900-11-07 9th 206 (7 MM) 194 94 6
1896-06-23 8th 206 (7 MM) 166 81 19
1891-03-05 7th 205 (10 MM) 188 92 8
1887-02-22 6th 205 (10 MM) 190 93 7
1882-06-20 5th 201 (10 MM) 186 93 7
1878-09-17 4th 196 (10 MM) 176 90 10
1874-01-22 3rd 196 (10 MM) 183 93 7
1872-07-20 2nd 193 (7 MM) 182 94 6
1867-08-07 1st 179 (1 MM) 173 97 3
=======================================
Meanwhile when STV was used to elect the MLAs in Edmonton, a large percentage of votes were used to elect the members. Never were a majority of votes frustrated as we see in a majority of districts in the last several Canadian elections.
Edmonton STV elections 1926 to 1955
votes belonging
total to non-elected votes
valid exhausted non-eliminated used Effective Members
votes votes candidates to elect someone Votes in Edmonton
1926 18,154 1659 2212 14,283 79 p.c. 5
1930 21,189 1643 2284 17,262 81 percent 6
1935 37,267 1642 4721 30,904 83 percent 6
1940 43,743 2613 7291 33,839 77 percent 5
1944 37,834 2747 5171 29,916 79 percent 5
1948 46,150 1894 4883 39,373 85 percent 5
1952 52,039 4390 4809 42,840 82 percent 7
1955 76,544 unk unk. 66,104 86 percent 7
Number of seats in a district does seem to help determine the percentage of votes used to elect someone:
when Edmonton had 5 members, Effective Votes ranged from 77 to 85 percent.
when Edmonton had 6 members, Effective Votes ranged from 81 to 83 percent
when Edmonton had 7 members, Effective Votes ranged from 82 to 86 percent.
Although there was some range, the percentage of Effective Votes under STV in Edmonton only varied from 77 to 86 percent.
This was both a larger percentage and a more consistent pattern than the percentage of Effective Votes under FPTP recorded in the table above.
===================================
Comments