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Tom Monto
Nov 340 min read

Timeline of Canadian electoral reform and writings about ER published in Canada

Updated: 18 hours ago


[work in progress]


Here is a brief timeline/outline of Canadian electoral reform, especially proportional representation and effective voting (STV), and of Canadian or Canadian-related published works on the subject.


Obviously this blog overlaps with Montopedia's two-blog "Timeline of Electoral Reform and P.R." This blog concentrates solely on reform developments within Canada and the effect of the written word.

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1859 "One of the People" [Alfred Waddington, 1800-1872)]. The Necessity of Reform, a tract for the times addressed to the colonists of Vancouver Island. Victoria: Victoria Colonist office, 1859.

concerning extension of franchise

(CIHM (Canadian Institute of Historical Microreproductions) 92781 --

Waddington was also author of Sketch of Proposed line of overland railroad through BNA and similar studies of late 1800s. also author of what was said to be the first book published on Vancouver Island -- The Fraser Mines Vindicated, or the History of Four Months (1858).


(Around the time of Confederation, many authors used the term "proportional representation" when they talked about "representation by population" (rep. by pop.) - that, say, Ontario should have the same ratio of residents to elected MPs as Quebec has, and vica versa. Canada did accomplish that fairness and still has that pretty much today -- the lower ratio that PEI and each of the Territories has are nothing compared to the massive unfairness produced by our unfair election method.

In 2021 PEI and the Territories elected at most seven MPs unfairly due to improper rep. by pop., but the Liberal Party elected 40 more MPs than it ought to have due to our unfair election system.)

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1874 Edward Blake Speech at Aurora

(CIHM 828) (also CIHM 34068)

Hon. Blake supported pro-rep (Parliamentary companion -- CIHM 32961)

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1877 Miall, Edward (1838?-1903) Defects of our system of government : delivered by Mr. Edward Miall before the Literary and Historical Society of Ottawa, on 3rd February, 1877.

(CIHM 10101)

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Edward Blake (1833-1912)

1881 Young Men's Reform Club (Montréal, Quebec). Young Men's Reform Club : banquet in honor of Hon. E. Blake, M.P., at the Windsor Hotel, Montreal, Tuesday, 29th March, 1881.

Published [Montreal? : publisher not identified, 1881?]

(CIHM 08869) (Edward Blake see 1874)

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1886, 1890 Toronto MLAs elected through Limited Voting.

city-wide district used.

each voter had two votes, three MLAs elected in the district.

one seat went to the minority party.



HISTORIC NOTE:

1887 Richard Cartwright put STV forward in the House of Commons but received little support. (Cartwright, Reminiscences, p. 384)

(at that time, the three Toronto MLAs were being elected in a city-wide district through Limited Voting.)

(STV was not being used by voters anywhere in the world at that time.) [perhaps he did not exactly say STV?]


Richard J. Cartwright, Reminiscences Toronto: William Briggs, 1912. (CIHM 73162)

Cartwright expressed his support for proportional representation in Reminiscences, pages 314 and 384. Not wanting to make promises the system might not fulfill, he called it "proportionate representation."


Richard J. Cartwright, MP 1867-1904, federal cabinet minister 1874-1878, then Senator from 1904 to his death (1912).

He was long-time fan of Pro-Rep. (Edmonton Bulletin, Oct. 26, 1900)

(see 1909)

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1891 Alderman Walker [W. J. (Walter James) Walker, of New Westminster]. Some Thoughts and Suggestions on municipal reform in BC. Published in New Westminster by Lewis and Greig, 1891.

against the ward system of election, against voter casting multiple votes (as happens in Block Voting).

"A municipal government by angels would be perfect in spite of the system. [What] is required is to make the system perfect in spite of - well, such men are are usually elected into municipal councils."

(CIHM 16421) (not mentioned in Pilon, Drive for PR in BC, 1994.)

At time of writing this, Walker was "chairman of the school board of New Westminster and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants."

=====



James Mavor (1854-1925). The political situation and labour problems. Glasgow: J.B. Douglas, [1892?]

called for pro-rep

(CIHM 34061)

(A few years later Mavor was pivotal in having anarchist leader and author Kropotkin come to Canada. see Montopedia blog)

=====


1892 Sanford Fleming. An Appeal to the Canadian Institute on the Rectification of Parliament. Toronto : Copp, Clark, 1892. 

Fleming was perhaps Canada's most illustrious scientist of his time. And even today we use the system of 24 time zones around the world that he invented.

Catherine Helen Spence referred to him as "Canada's leading propotionalist" in her Autobiography.


see my blogs for copies of this, starting with:


He was also author of

Fleming Ocean travel

Fleming Party or parliament. (CIHM 6103)

=======


1893 Sanford Fleming. Essays received in response to an appeal by the Canadian Institute on the Rectification of Parliament.

(CIHM 01093)

Essays within included those submitted by Catherine Helen Spence (Southern Australia) and Alfred Cridge (San Francisco, formerly of New Brunswick).

The essays were submitted as part of a contest but no winner was ever declared and no prize was ever paid out.

(see Montopedia blogs on Catherine Helen Spence and Alfred Cridge.)

=====


HISTORIC NOTE:

In 1893 Catherine Helen Spence visited the U.S. and Toronto.

She had gone to the Chicago World Fair. While there, she addressed the International Conference on Charities and Correction, the Proportional Representation Convention (which Alfred Cridge also attended), the Single Tax Conference, the Peace Conference and a gathering in the Women's Building.

She then lectured and preached across the United States, visited Canada, Britain and Switzerland, and returned to South Australia in 1894.

Next year she formed the Effective Voting League of South Australia...

And the rest is history -- but it took about 15 years before Tasmania had adopted STV on a permanent basis and years more before other Australian states did.


In 1893-94 she spend almost a year in the U.S. and Canada.

She visited Toronto at the invitation of Mr. Howland, with whom she had corresponded for years. (He was son of Lord William Howland gov-general or some such in early Canada.) During the visit she converted Robert Tyson to P.R. and discussed P.R. with influencer Goldwin Smith. During her stay in the U.S. she spent time with tax reformer Henry George and Alfred Cridge. (Spence, An Autobiography, p. 74)

(see 1900)

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1893 Buffalo Conference on Electoral Reform

Robert Tyson attended this conference held at Buffalo, New York.


see Montopedia blog

=========



1895 Alfred Cridge  

Proportional representation including its relation to the Initiative and the Referendum.

includes a piece on "The present situation of the movement - the national organization - will Oregon lead?" (p. 24)


(reprinted in a very different version in 1904)


Alfred Cridge was resident of San Fran in 1893 but formerly resident of St. John, New Brunswick. He participated in the 1893 Chicago PR Convention, which was attended by Catherine Helen Spence and others. That convention laid the base for the formation of the Proportional Representation League [U.S./Canada]. The following year, after her return to Australia, Spence formed the Effective Voting League of South Australia.

(see 1893)

=====


1898 Proportional Representation Committee of Ontario,

Effective Voting - the Basis of Good Municipal Government.

Toronto. [1898] 31 pages

(reprinted from Citizen and Country 1898)

A part of the booklet (p. 30-31) was devoted to a proposed bill formulated by John Idington, QC, of Stratford (Ontario) that, if passed and made into law, would allow any municipality in Ontario that used at-large districting to use STV.

In 1898 Idington was chairman of the Proportional Representation Committee of Ontario.   John Idington (1840–1928) was a Stratford lawyer and a judge in the Supreme Court of Canada, 1905-1927. (Wikipedia has an article on his life)

[haven't found anything else he wrote in favour of P.R. but still searching...]


At the time of writing, STV was used to elect ten legislators in Tasmania, and list P.R. was used in ten Swiss cantons.

At the time there was no known use of P.R. (or STV) in any municipality, but the booklet said that English school boards were elected by Cumulative Voting, and that executive members of the San Francisco Mechanics' Institute were elected by what was called the Hare-Spence system, "with entire success and complete satisfaction." Seven members were elected in a contest involving 800 to 1000 voters. in 1896, 958 votes were cast and the counting under STV took just two hours and fifteen minutes. (page 15)

As well, the Toronto Trades and Labour Council used STV to elect its executive. (Chapter 5. "An object lesson" (p. 28-30) outlined how the 1898 TLC STV election worked. At the end, the author asked "Is not this Proportional Representation, Effective Voting and Scientific Suffrage?"

Although the author regarded Hare-Spence as "the best all-around plan of Effective Voting," the booklet also outlined the Gove system (p. 24-25), Cumulative Voting and Limited Voting.

It said Cumulative Voting had been used for twenty years to elect English school boards but stated that Alfred Cridge believed that the use of such an imperfect system had actually held up the progress toward P.R.

It said Cumulative Voting was also being used in Illinois but in districts of only three seats. "Such a burlesque on pro-rep only retards progress."

Limited Voting had been used to elect 3 Toronto MLAs with each voter casting two votes.

In New York, Limited Voting had been used where voters cast seven votes to elect 12 members.

But both systems had been dropped by 1898. (The Gove system has never been used anywhere.)


Effective Voting (p. 27-29) outlined how STV had been used successfully to determine the location for a company picnic of the Wm. and J.G. Greey business, of Toronto, where 80 workmen worked. (Despite vote transfers, a tie had resulted so a second runoff election had been held with just two options.)


(this is only book by this group available on hathi trust)


======


1899 First Political and Social Conference, Buffalo. on Direct Legislation but STV used in elections.

Several Canadian reformers attended the six-day event:

Bryan, George J.   Toronto

Crawford, Rev. E.E.   St. Thomas ON

Macoun, James   Ottawa

McLean, D.J. and wife     Bridgebury, ON

McLean, William    Bridgebury, ON

Marsh, G. Fred     Thornbury, Ontario

Rowe, Rev. Elliot C.  Toronto

Sinclair, Calvin  Bridgeport, ON

Tarr, S.R.     Woodstock ON

Robert Tyson Toronto

Watson, Dr. Albert D.   Toronto

Wrigley, George  Toronto

Wrigley, G. Weston, Toronto.


STV was used to elect the nine-member Committee on Resolutions.

see Montopedia blog 1899...

===============


1900?-1902? S. Russell, of Desoronto, Ontario MPP of East Hastings, has three times introduced legislation for local option on P.R.

(The Direct Legislation Record and the Proportional Representation Review, March 1902 (135/216))


HISTORIC NOTE:

1900 The Women’s Canadian Historical Society opened a campaign for proportional representation with a lecture on "Effective Voting: Its History as Developed by an Australian Woman", referring to Catherine Helen Spence who had visited Toronto in 1893.

(from Barbara Caine, Unbridling the Tongues of Women: A Biography of Catherine Helen Spence (1887))

========


1900 Eltwood Pomeroy. By the People. Arguments and Authorities for Direct Legislation or the Initiative and the Referendum

Consists of articles and symposiums previously published in the New time, in 1897 and 1898.

Introduction by J.W. Sullivan, in which he sets out reasons why "representatives don't represent."

includes an article on P.R. by Robert Tyson in which he discussed the similarities between Direct Legislation and P.R.; different types of P.R. -- the Hare plan (STV), the Gove method, the Swiss Free list; Belgium's first use of PR in a national election in the world; etc.


(Robert Tyson see Montopedia blogs, including


HISTORIC NOTE:

There was considerable overlap between the Direct Legislation people and proportionalist movement. Robert Tyson wrote an artice for the Direct Legislation Record on the 1898 Canadian referendum on Prohibition. The DL Record records the involvement of several significant Canadian reformers circa 1900 - George Wrigley (who is said to be father of George Weston Wrigley (see DCB)), James H. Macoun (of the Geological Survey of Canada), E.N.. Price of St. Thomas (Ont.), J.M. Johnson, editor of the London (Ont.) newspaper Searchlight.

(#331 (p. 71))

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1901 Socialist Party of Canada called for PR.

Socialist Party of British Columbia. Socialist Party of British Columbia: statement of principles adopted at Vancouver, October 3rd, 1901.

Published in Ferguson, B.C. by Lardeau Eagle Printing. [1901?]

Called for pro-rep

(CIHM 83287)

R.P Pettipiece was editor/owner of the Lardeau Eagle from about 1900 to 1902. He went on to be editor of the SPC's Canadian Socialist and the BC Federation of Labour's British Columbia Federationist.

He was prominent BC labour official and SPC federal candidate. He was elected Vancouver alderman when STV was used in two Vancouver elections in 1922 (and again later under Block voting - 1933-1935 and in 1936 as a CCF candidate). He ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1923 but failed in part due to vote splitting of left (IRV not used in that election). in 1930s he spoke out against the use of wards, and today Vancouver aldermen are elected in at-large elections.

He also co-wrote the book The Genesis and Evolution of Slavery Showing how Chattel Slaves of Pagan times have been transformed into the Capitalist Property of Today (1916)

(see Wikipedia: "Richard Parmater Pettipiece")

=============


HISTORIC NOTE:

1901 Robert Tyson, of Toronto, became editor of the Proportional Representation Review, published by the Proportional Representation League (U.S./Canada).

He held this post until 1913. He died the following year.

(see P.R. Review, Oct. 1914, p. 37)

(Robert Tyson - see 1900)


1901 "R.T." [Robert Tyson]. Proportional Voting in municipal elections.

Toronto: Proportional Representation Society of Ontario [1901] (5 pages)

(CIHM 87696)

(Robert Tyson - see 1900)

(Despite Tyson's best literary and lobbying efforts, P.R. was never used in a government election east of Manitoba.)

========


1901 Second Political and Social Conference, Detroit. on Direct Legislation but STV used in elections and given prominence.




1902 G.W. Ross (premier of Ontario) booklet published --  Is the Referendum constitutional?. Transcript of speech given in Ontario Legislature. (listed in P.R. Record 1902ish)

=====


Canadian Referendum League

Headed by J.F. Thompson, History Master, Simcoe High School

League formed due to success of D.L. Convention, Toronto, Nov. 1898.

Three main goals:

--D.L. and P.R.

--Nationalization of all public franchises

--Nationalization of all mines.

(Direct Legislation Record and the Proportional Representation Review Dec. 1902)

=======



1902 George Shibley. Majority Rule in combination with representative government in city, state and nation can be obtained in a non-partisan way and with little effort...

existing system allows rule by the few. (24/128)

message of book "in a nutshell" p. 28

[Majority rule in combination with representative government is pretty much pro-rep.]


"Evils that result from rule of the few" p. 71


quotes Canadian scholar Goldwin Smith on why party government results in rule by the few (31/128)

(But Smith never went on to endorse PR, as Tyson mentions in his writing in 1904.)


Shibley was director of the Research Institute of Washington, D.C. and member, U.S. Supreme Court Bar. (Hathitrust 13960)


Shibley wrote several books on the need for monetary reform and Freedom in 1912, an address by the Progressive Federation, to all progressive non-partisan organizations, an early work of the non-partisan movement. His proposed constitution for the Progressive Federation included the use of P.R. for executive members, saying "this will result in such a representation that the conflicting interests that are ever present will participate in the work of the executive. This will tend to prevent factional strife. It will result in rep. for the minority, who will thus be able to argue their side of each proposition. This will tend toward a just decision by the executive board and tend also to prevent disruption, a weakness that always comes where the minority are not represented...

STV, "the simplest form" of pro-rep, was to be used "where multiple members are elected to similar offices. The instruction to the voters is to cast a vote for one of the candidates and also to indicate a second choice and a third choice, and the votes is afterward counted to one of these." (p. 14)

(Hathi trust)

===


1902 Toronto Federation for Majority Rule.

People's veto and direct initiative. How to get it at the next general election.

Published in Toronto. 2-page broadside. (Weinrich) (see also 1903)


1903 Toronto Federation for Majority Rule, Report of progress. Published in Toronto.

1-page broadside.

Toronto Federation for Majority Rule was "organized to secure the adoption of the people's veto and the direct initiative in the city government." (Weinrich)

(see also 1902)

======


1902/1903 Tyson helped give the pro-rep cause a higher profile in Canada when he moderated the STV election of the executive of the Trades and Labour Congress. (Proportional Representation Review Dec. 1902, p. 78; Dec. 1903)

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1904 Alfred Cridge Proportional representation including its relation to the Initiative and the Referendum (different version from the 1893 edition)

includes an article on P.R. by Robert Tyson in which he discussed PR and the life story of the late Alfred Cridge, who was something of a mentor to Tyson.


(Cridge - see Montopedia blogs on Alfred Cridge and his writings)

=========================================


1904 Earl Grey (the fourth) became Canada's governor General. served to 1911. He was avid fan of pro-rep. Likely he helped influence Ottawa to hold a referendum on adopting STV. Majority of voters voted in favour, but Ontario government refused to allow that change.

(see 1917)

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1904 Cumulative Voting adopted for elections to city boards in Toronto.

The Proportional Representation Review (September 1903) described it like this:

"Cumulative voting as applied to the Board of Control, means that each elector will have four votes but that he need not give each of them to a different candidate. He may do so if he wishes; but he has also the power to give all his four votes to one candidate. This makes "plumping" four times as powerful as it was by the old "block" vote system, when if you "plumped" for one candidate, you threw away three out of your four votes. Now you have the benefit of your full voting power, whether you plump or not. And plumping is the correct thing; in fact proportional representation is simply effective representation with the addition in the best systems of a provision for transfer of votes, so as to prevent wasting too many on one candidate...

Besides permitting an elector to give all four votes to one candidate, the cumulative plan enables him to give two of his votes to one candidate and two to another, or he may give three votes to one candidate and his fourth to another candidate. In fact he may distribute or cumulate his four votes as he pleases....

If one-fourth of the voters give all their votes to one candidate, they can elect him, no matter what the other three-fourths choose to do[...] thus Cumulative Voting if used carefully allows for minority representation." (P.R. Review, Sept 1903)



1909 Freemasons. Proportionate representation as the basis for grand lodge officers. Toronto : [publisher not identified], 1909

(CIHM 79333) [Perhaps shows that non-government organizations were using STV! Even today major political parties in Canada elect their leaders through a non-FPTP system - IRV. But meanwhile voters in elections are constrained to cast their vote under the disproportional FPTP system.]

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HISTORIC NOTE:

1909 House of Commons private member bill for committe to be formed to investigate STV. Passed. But no action was taken. (Western Globe, June 29, 1909)

Senator Richard Cartwright called for grouped districts. (Western Globe, June 29, 1909)

===


1912 Robert Tyson wrote a series of articles in Grain Growers Guide on PR, calling for STV but discussing list PR and SNTV.

The Guide's publication of info. on electoral reform helped push Canadian Council of Agriculture to endorse that reform. The farmer movement as a whole had interlocking interests in Direct Legislation, electoral reform, Henry George single tax, monetary reform/Social Credit, and more, with the women's wings of the provincial farmers' movements being also active in the drive for Prohibition and female suffrage.

(Robert Tyson - see 1900)

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1913 Direct Legislation

Toward democracy, or, The revival of an old idea : direct legislation the next step in democracy

Published Winnipeg : Grain Growers' Guide, 1913.

(CIHM 9-90583) (not in Peel)


1913 George Robson Coldwell, MLA. The fallacies of direct legislation. [Winnipeg? : publisher not identified, 1913?]

Coldwell says Direct Legislation runs against principles of representative government.

G.R. Coldwell was Conservative MLA 1907-1915. Indicted on charges of fraud, he did not seek re-election in 1915. (not to be confused with M.J. Coldwell of the CCF)

(CIHM 77603) (Peel 3876)


HISTORIC NOTE:

Lethbridge was first city in Canada/U.S. to adopt Alternative Voting for election of its city administration. P.R. Review, Oct. 1914 noted this, saying AV is "quite a different thing from P.R. but is of interest to many proportionalists."

(Circa 1914, Alternative Voting/Instant-Runoff voting was sometimes called the Ware method. Ware's system however was the two-round single-winner system known today as the Supplementary Vote.)

===========================


HISTORIC NOTE:

Around 1914 many North American cities switched, or considered switching, to the Commission Plan or Commission-Manager Plan of civic government. These plans concentrated power in just a few hands (the Board of Commissioners, sometimes with a Manager) sometimes with no city council at all. Under a strict Commission Plan, the new powerful commissioners were elected, and to have democratic accountability, Pro-Rep was often a component of the new system.

(At the same time, many cities were considering adopting Direct Legilslation (Initiative, Referendum and Recall) as well.

St. John (N.B.) made the switch to Commission government in 1913.

Lethbridge made the switch in January 1914, dismantling its city council altogether. The Commissioners were elected by IRV. (see GGG, April 15, 1914)


Edmonton considered the switch to Elective Commission in 1913/1914.

The Clean Government League published Elective Commission -- The Business Plan of Municipal Government in 1913.

In December 1913, mayoral candidate William McNamara campaigned for the Commission Plan and was elected mayor. (GGG, Jan. 21, 1914, p. 9)


Following the election the city swirled with discussion of the commission form of city government.

(see Edmonton Bulletin, Feb. 10, 1914, p. 10; Nov. 28, 1914, p. 1; June 17, 1914, p. 5)


Various ballots designs were considered - STV or IRV using number ranking or columns, Bucklin, weighted Bucklin, a Bucklin-IRV hybrid. The "Edmonton Ballot" was devised to combine IRV for commissioners and IRV for mayor.  (Edmonton Capital, August 24, 1914)

A new city constitution was hammered out, including IRV for election of commissioners, and a confirming referendum scheduled for Dec. 1914. But then two of the Plan's supporters, Mayor McNamara and Councillor James East, were forced to resign due to conflict-of-interest infractions. Perhaps due to this unhappy connection, the Elective Commision Plan met stony reception in December 1914, when most of the voters voted against it. (see Edmonton Bulletin, Dec. 15, 1914)

(They also deep-sixed it in votes held in 1920, 1921, and 1926.)

see Montopedia blog: "1913/1914 Edmonton almost switched to Elective Commission Plan...."

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[1915] W.W. (Wilbur William) Andrews (1859-1922)

Our national sin : something for nothing.

Toronto : Issued by the Dept. of Social Service and Evangelism of the Methodist Church [published between 1915 and 1925].

mentions proportional representation.

(CIHM 98780)

====


HISTORIC NOTE:

1915 Ottawa held a referendum on adopting STV for city elections. Majority of voters voted in favour. But Ontario government refused to allow that change.

====


1916 The Crisis in party politics and the way out. The method and advantages of P.R. and an illustrative election (1916)

Published: Vancouver: Westminster Review Pub. Office, 1916.

(CIHM 76838) (Hathi trust online)

 Not mentioned in Pilon, Drive for PR in BC (1994)

(Westminster adopted STV in 1917/1918.)



1916 Grain Growers Guide reprinted an incisive piece on P.R. from the Westminster Review saying several farmer organization locals had expressed an interest in holding a debate among their members on Proportional Representation that coming winter. (GGG, Oct. 4, 1916, p. 10) (perhaps excerpt from The Crisis in Party Politics...?)

===


1917 Earl Grey on PR in Equity, July 1917.

(see When Canada Had PR, p. 15 for excerpt)

The Fourth Earl Grey served as Canada's governor general 1904-1911. The Grey Cup was his contribution to Canadian sport.

Self-described as a perfect fanatic on the subject of electoral reform, prominent member of the Proportional Represention League (U.K.)


1917 Harold Begbie. Albert Fourth Earl Grey A Last Word.

PR discussed on page 75-78

 (CIHM 71702)

see also Earl Grey Education and pro rep fallacies (CIHM not seen)

(see 1904)

=====


1917 Calgary was first city in Canada to adopt STV

1917 9 elected -- 6 were elected to 2-year terms, three to one-year terms

Calgary had population of about 66,000 in 1917. (1917 Henderson's Directory, p. 39)

STV in use until 1960, and in 1971.

Annual elections, so any casual vacancies filled in next election.

Two-year terms, staggered terms, half of councillors up for election each year (except 1961 and 1971 when all the seats filled).

Gregory Method (version unknown) was used for transfers of surplus votes.


at first elections were held at-large, city-wide

DM varied from five to nine, variance due to casual vacancies.

1917 9 elected -- 6 to 2-year terms, three to one-year terms

from 1918 to 1960, DM ranged from 6 to 8. (5 to 9?)


1960 adopted two-seat wards - 1961 both seats filled at same time.

Through 1960s most seats elected singly in alternating years, through IRV.

1971 both seats in each ward filled by STV.

1961, 1971 two-seat wards.

three times in 1960s -- both seats in a ward were filled at the same time, due to casual vacancy (so STV was used.)


HISTORIC NOTE:

Calgary's adoption of STV in 1917 was copied by 18 other municipalities within the next 17 years. Lethbridge adopted STV later, in 1928. All except Calgary, Winnipeg and some Winnipeg-area suburbs dropped STV by 1930. Saskatoon was only one (so far) to put STV into use again later. (see 1920, 1923, Saskatoon 1939)

========



1918 John D. Hunt The Dawn of a New Patriotism (1918)

(CIHM 83522)

also author of Democracy in Canada (the last chapter of The Dawn of a New Patriotism... printed as separate monograph as well.

(The Alberta Legislature Library has a copy)


John D. Hunt was clerk of the executive council of Alberta in the 1920s and was the force behind Alberta adopting STV-PR in 1924. (Of course the government in power at the time - the United Farmers of Alberta - played an important part as well.) (Actually Alberta adopted a hybrid STV/IRV system. In 1926 Alberta was the first legislature in North America to hold an election where all its members were elected using non-plurality methods - the proportional STV or the majoritarian Instant-Runoff Voting system.)

(see 1924)


Two files at the PAA contain information concerning his work for the Legislative Assembly, some of which centred around the introduction of STV in Alberta provincial elections, including correspondence with Humphreys and Hallett.

PR1969.0289/194      1-600-31

======


1919 William Irvine. Group Government. talks of P.R. The concept of Group government that each occupation group should have its due share of seats is similar to P.R. idea that each voting block should have its due share of seats.

========


1919 Canadian Council of Agriculture. A new national policy. (1919)

image 9 discusses pro-rep.

(CIHM 81359) (also CIHM 97623)


(a Canadian Council of Agriculture staffperson also wrote a leaflet on P.R. (see 1920)



United Farmers of Alberta. How to organize and carry on a local of the United Farmers of Alberta. Calgary: Office of the Province Secretary, U.F.A, 1919?.

(CIHM 9-90016) (Peel 4540)

p. 37 recounts how in 1919 the farmers movement endorsed pro-rep and other reforms, and also voted to engage in independent politics.

Suggests this sentence as subject for debate as an alternative activity for local club members: "Resolved that Proportional Representation is preferable to single member constituencies."

[thus clearly seeing that proportionality cannot happen in single-member districts but only through multi-member districts or some form of pooling of the vote]

Said that material on Pro-rep was available from the Faculty of Extension, UofA.



1919 [Proportional Representation Society of Canada] The first municipal P.R. elections in the United Kingdom: Sligo (Ireland) municipal elections, January, 1919 : a practical demonstration of the working of the single transferable vote. [Ottawa: Proportional Representation Society of Canada], 1919.

(PRSC P.R. pamphlet No. 8) [don't what previous seven pamphlets were ]

(CIHM 99422)


======

1919 Education, Social and Moral Reform, P.R. (Liberal Party of Ontario. 1919)

(CIHM 65659) (Hathi trust online)


HISTORIC NOTE:

As farmer, labour and public service organizations pushed for electoral reform, Mackenzie King's Liberal Party passed a resolution in favour of electoral reform in 1919.

King promised electoral reform as he fought the 1921 election.

(see 1921)


=======

Historic note:

January 1920 Premier Norris of Manitoba and his attorney-general contacted Ronald Hooper, an authority on P.R. living in Ontario at the time, about possibility of using STV in provincial elections. The government had already given Winnipeg ten seats, up from 4, and was concerned that Labour might take eight or nine, or none at all, any of which might happen under FPTP. Hooper later recalled "The government of the day did not want to take all the seats, and Mr. Johnson [the attorney-general) was statesmanlike enough to realize that it would be bad for the city of Winnipeg, and if labour got no representation, the matter would not end there." Hooper assured the government leaders that P.R. would merely give labour and non-labour representation in the provincial legislature in proportion to the votes" however they were placed. (from Hooper's evidence to 1936 Special Committee (see 1936))

Based on that advice, the government decided to adopt STV for election of the ten Winnipeg MLAs in a city-wide district.

This was the largest DM used under STV in a government election up to that time, although the 1917 Calgary city election had elected 9 quite successfully.

Manitoba's 33-year use of STV, and Alberta's, which went from 1924 to 1956, together made up the deepest experience of STV at the legislative level in all of North America.


(1920 Manitoba -- adoption of STV in Winnipeg city elections. in use at city level until 1970. DM-3 -- 6 members in each district. half of members elected each election (staggered terms). Casual vacancies filled by byelection (held at time of next election). The whole-vote "exact method" used for transfer of surplus votes. (see footnote))

(Winnipeg had 179,000 residents at this point in time.)


(1920 Manitoba -- adoption of STV to elect Winnipeg MLAs.

STV used at provincial level to 1954, with two different districting schemes:

-- 1920 to 1949 -- DM-10 in Winnipeg city-wide district. (largest DM used to elect legislators using STV in the world up to that time). Optional-preferential voting. Whole-vote "exact method" used for transfers of surplus votes (see footnote).

-- 1949, 1953 -- Winnipeg used three districts DM 4.

1954 end of provincial PR in Manitoba -- seats in Winnipeg area increased by four, system changed to single-member districts and FPTP. (AV used in rural districts 1923-1954)


1920 also saw Winnipeg adopt STV for city elections.

(1920 Manitoba -- adoption of STV in Winnipeg city elections. in use at city level until 1970. DM-3 -- 6 members in each district. half of members elected each election (staggered terms). Casual vacancies filled by byelection (held at time of next election). The whole-vote "exact method" used for transfer of surplus votes. (see footnote))

(Winnipeg had 179,000 residents at this point in time.)


(1920 Manitoba -- adoption of STV to elect Winnipeg MLAs.

STV used at provincial level to 1954, with two different districting schemes:

-- 1920 to 1949 -- DM-10 in Winnipeg city-wide district. (largest DM used to elect legislators using STV in the world up to that time). Optional-preferential voting. Whole-vote "exact method" used for transfers of surplus votes (see footnote).

-- 1949, 1953 -- Winnipeg used three districts DM 4.


(1954 end of provincial PR in Manitoba -- seats in Winnipeg area increased by four, system changed to single-member districts and FPTP.

(single-winner Alternative Voting (AV) used in rural districts 1923-1954))

=====



1920 Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association (SGGA)

J.B. Musselman (SGGA secretary), New Provincial Political Platform.

"This is not a party movement. either for or against the existing government. It is primarily an expression of political independence from the old party methods and a demand for truly democratic expression at the polls. Instead of electing supporters or opponents of a party leader who either is or hopes to become premier, the electors are demanding a means for intelligent expression of their own views at the polls and we believe that by the method proposed this can be accomplished." (from New Provincial Political Platform)

(CIHM 99025)

=====


1920 Your Committee have given special attention to P.R. as a method of voting (Social Service Council of Canada, Committee on Political Purity and the Franchise, 1920)

(Hathi trust online -- CIHM 80353)



1920 Charles Mullen, Proportional Representation and Municipal Government (1920)

 [published in Montreal]

 [not actually available online, available at UofA Library and many other major university libraries across Canada]



1920 J.A.S. (J.A. Stephenson) Proportional representation A truly democratic form of voting for government - just what it means and how it works. published in Winnipeg by Canadian Council of Agriculture.

Stevenson, a writer for the CCA, was also author of Profiteering and Where the Farmer touches city labor (these are both listed in Weinrich, Social Protest).

[Writings such as these encouraged the UFA to promise to bring in PR if elected - and helped the UFA actually fulfill that promise.)


1920 Proportional Representation Society of Canada.

Proportional Representation and National Confidence in Parliament. Statement submitted by the PRSC to the Royal Commission on Industrial Relations, with an Introductory Note Showing the Increasing Acceptance of P.R. in Canada.

March, 1920. (P.R. Pamphlet No. 7) perhaps 12 pages in length

(Hathi trust but not available to Canadian readers or possibly not at all; perhaps House of Commons Library has a copy))

Perhaps PRSC had seven publications (or more) but only two even listed on in Hathi trust online



1921 United Farmers of Alberta pushed for electoral reform. Three sitting MLAs called for the change - Non-Partisan League's Louise McKinney and James Weir, [at least I expect that to be the case] and an UFA MLA Moore. The Liberal government of Alberta formed a royal commission. Legislative Clerk of the Legislative Council, John D. Hunt, wrote a report on the use of Proportional Representation in other countries and the reasons to have it in Alberta. (The report was shelved and, it seems, all copies were destroyed.)

An abridgement of his research was published by the UFA at the time of the 1921 provincial election:

Present Electoral system condemned - John D. Hunt, clerk of the Legislative Council, denounces system which allows manipulation by unscrupulous politicians. Proportional Representation only fair method -- Works well with occupational groups. Also attacks autocratic power of cabinet and caucus.

(Peel 9355)


HISTORIC NOTE:

1921 provincial election -- The United Farmers of Alberta, the largest farmer lobby group in the province, ran official party candidates and promised to reform the election system. its campaign literature ("UFA Reconstructive Legislative Program") called for "Proportional Representation for all classes of the community according to their numerical strength." This was to be produced by "Proportional Representation [in the cities] and a preferential ballot in the single-member constituencies." (Manitoba Free Press, July 25, 1921)


1921 federal election -- King promised electoral reform as he fought the 1921 election.

After he won with a slight majority, nothing immediately was done.

A Progressive Party MP, William Good, put forward a motion to the House of Commons advocating a reform in advance of the next election: “one or more multi-member constituencies” would be created “for the purpose of demonstration the working and effects of the system of true proportional representation.” The motion was defeated, although Prime Minister MacKenzie King himself voted in favour.)


Later [1925?] King's government formed an all-party "Committee appointed to consider the Subject of Proportional Representation and the single transferable or preferential vote."

Nothing came of it. The committee recommended no change because the MPs on the committee said they had not seen evidence that proportional representation would be “conducive to good government.”

Labour MP A.A. Heaps tried to get the committee members to fulfill their own party's promise but was ignored. (FVC website: "100 year of broken promises"))


====



1921 election flawed, said Ronald Hooper

"Clearly we ought not to retain a system of election that so threatens the unity of Canada as to give whole cities and whole provinces over to one political creed," Hooper summed up.

Hooper's views were presented in the January 1922 Proportional Representation Review (available on-line)

Around 1923 (exact date unknown)) he presented evidence on P.R. to an Ontario Legislative Assembly body

(in 1936 he presented evidence to the House of Commons Special Committee on electoral reform).

====


1922 Edmonton voters voted to adopt STV for next election, electing councillors in city-wide district.


(1923 Edmonton adopted STV for city elections. STV in use until 1927. City-wide district already being used under Block Voting so that at-large districting continued. Annual elections, so any casual vacancies filled in next election. Two-year terms, staggered terms, half of councillors up for election each year. DM varied from five to seven. Whole-vote "exact method" used for transfer of surplus votes.)


1923-1927 Edmonton used STV to elect its city councillors and school board trustees.

Edmonton dropped STV after voters in 1927 signalled they wanted to return to Block Voting.

(Edmonton did not go to single-member winner-take-all FPTP until 2010.)


(1924 Alberta -- adoption of STV to elect provincial members in Edmonton, Calgary and Medicine Hat. city-wide districts - Edmonton and Calgary each with 5 members, M.H. 2 members. (These MMDs were in existence prior to STV being adopted.) Optional-preferential voting. Droop quota. Whole-vote "exact method" used for transfers of surplus votes (see footnote).

(before the next election in 1930, M.H. divided into two single-member districts.

Later Edmonton and Calgary DM increased to 6 seats, back to 5, up to 6 again, then Edmonton up to 7. (STV dropped in 1956, replaced by single-member districts and FPTP.)

In almost all the STV elections in Edmonton and Calgary, 3 or 4 parties were represented among each city's MLAs.

1926 Edmonton: four parties represented among the city's MLAs.

Winning candidates received 15,000 votes, 82 percent of the 18,000 valid votes.

Overall, 8501, 57 percent of the winning candidates' vote totals, were made up of first preferences.

Overall, at least 11,200, at least 75 percent of the winning candidates' vote totals, were made up of first and second preferences.




1923 United Farmers of Ontario. Proportional representation and the transferable vote in single member constituencies. Published in Toronto (four pages)

UFO had been in power 1919 to 1921 but by 1923 it had missed its chance to bring in PR.

(Weinrich Social Protest)

(Around 1923 (exact date unknown) he presented evidence on P.R. to an Ontario Legislative Assembly body.)

========


1924 John D. Hunt A Key to P.R. (1924)

(Hunt's booklet A Key to P.R. (1924) is accessible in Peel's PP website and also reproduced in the book A Report on Alberta Elections and in the 100 years of Democracy volume of the [2005] Centennial Series.)

(John D. Hunt see 1917)


HISTORIC NOTE:

In 1924, Alberta adopted STV in cities and Instant-Runoff Voting (IRV) elsewhere in provincial elections. This mixed system was in use in Alberta elections 1924-1956.

Manitoba, already using STV in Winnipeg, adopted Instant-Runoff Voting (IRV) elsewhere in provincial elections in use 1924-1953.

(IRV by itself was used in BC in 1951 and 1952.)


=======

1926 Albeta eleiton


1929  J.S. Woodsworth.  Labor's case in Parliament: A summary and compilation of the speeches of J.S. Woodsworth in the Canadian House of Commons 1921-1928. [Ottawa]: Canadian Brotherhood of Railroad Employees, 1929.

Canada's pre-eminent lefty of his time, J.S. Woodsworth, called for "Proportional Representation with grouped constituencies" in a book of his speeches published in 1929.

"Proportional Representation with grouped constituencies" at the time meant STV - ranked votes, single voting and multi-member districts.

Page 76 to 78 also concern that type of electoral reform.

(Peel 10437)

(see Montopedia blog for excerpts on this material.)

=====


1930 Joseph P. Harris

The Practical Workings of Proportional Representation in the U.S. and Canada (1930)


A detailed examination of processes of STV and some variations.

Discusses "fixed quota" as a means of making it simpler to communicate and thus easier to sell (p. 3)

As well, contains a city-by-city chronology of the use of STV

including Calgary (p. 365) and Winnipeg (p. 366).

====


HISTORIC NOTE:

1935 Alberta Social Credit League convention called for five-seat districts across the province, with STV to be used to elect the MLAs. At that time Malta national elections had exactly that system and had had for 15 years. But Alberta never did apply STV outside Edmonton, Calgary and Medicine Hat.

===


HISTORIC NOTE:

1936 The Special Committee on Elections and Franchise Acts 

The House of Commons formed a special committee to investigate P.R. and electoral reform.  

In the end, the Special Committe ruled against change.


Special Committee on Elections and Franchise Acts was struck to examine “the proportional representation system; the alternative vote in single-member constituencies; compulsory registration of voters; and compulsory voting.”

The study took a reserved approach and came out against electoral reform.


Ronald Hooper, self-taught PR expert, editor of the Winnipeg Tribune, reeve of the St. John rural municipality (in the Winnipeg area), gave evidence.

(his appearance is referred to on page 97 and 100. His appearance begins on page 101 and continues to page 126


In its 1936 report recommending against electoral system reform, the Special Committee on Elections and Franchise Acts questioned whether the adoption of either some form of PR [its focus was on STV] or the AV would work across the Dominion of Canada and be “conducive to good government.” It appears that the Special Committee’s focus went beyond how electoral system change could impact the representativeness of Parliament, in terms of how votes were translated into seats, to what could be meant as “good government.”


see:

(House of Commons, Special Committee on Elections and Franchise Acts, Fourth and Last Report, Journals, 1st Session, 18th Parliament, 11 June 1936, pp. 446–448; and Second and Last Report, Journals, 2nd Session, 18th Parliament, 6 April 1937, pp. 390–394.62)


The transcript of the Committee proceedings is available online at:


============


(1939 Saskatoon -- Alone of Canadian cities that used STV, Saskatoon adopted STV a second time. Kept it to 1942. )

====


HISTORIC NOTE:

1944 Alberta election saw 23 percent vote for CCF but it won only two seats, both in districts where STV was used. If the CCF had had 23 percent of the seats, likely our whole subsequent history would have been different, especially as Tommy Douglas's CCF government, elected next door, would have influenced our own political culture.


1949 Manitoba changed its election system.

Winnipeg was henceforth three 4-seat districts and St. Boniface had two seats.

They all elected their MLAs using STV.


HISTORIC NOTE:

1951 BC adopted Instant-Runoff Voting (IRV) in provincial elections. IRV in use in 1951 and 1952 provincial elections. BC used mixture of single-member and multi-member districts at that time.

======


1954 Manitoba dropped STV

(1954 seats in Winnipeg area increased by four.

system changed to single-member districts and FPTP.

(single-winner Alternative Voting (AV) used in rural districts 1923-1954))

(Winnipeg continued to use STV for city elections until about 1970)



1956 Alberta dropped STV

(Calgary continued to use STV for city elections)



HISTORIC NOTE:

1971 Calgary city election -- last use of STV in a government election in Canada.


1976 Parti Quebecois came to power after recent history of being denied its due share of seats. Promised to incorporate PR into Quebec's electoral system. Premier Levesque appointed a Minister of State for Parliamentary and Electoral Reform. 1982 proposed an open-list list PR system using multi-member districts. PQ's popularity had dropped to 33 percent, a level where under FPTP it would take considerably fewer than one-third of the seats. Royal Commission investigated ER and determined on a territorial PR (RPT) with counties used as districts, thus producing DM of 3 to 14 seats. This system was predicted to produce fair rep. of different political organizations, election of women and visible minorites, and strengthen regional political insittutions. (Levesque was against single-member districts as they had been route to corruption in old Quebec politics.)

But party functionaries proposed MMP (RPC) with with only a quarter of seats devoted to top-up.

The two different proposals never reconciled. Deadlock meant no change at all.

As 1985 election approached, PQ also split on question of Quebec independence. Levesque resigned. PQ under Pierre-Marc Johnson lost the election. Under FPTP it got 23 seats while its due share was 47 seats. (Prior to the election it had held 80 seats when it had been due only 60 in the 122-seat legislature.)

PQ MLAs, although possibly expecting that the PQ government would fall in 1985, still expected their own individual re-election. But for most, this did not pan out. FPTP means that each elected member talks to supporters and that gives him or her the perception that he or she is popular with majority of voters when in fact not necessarily true. A party that receives the leading-party's windfall of seats also over-estimates its own popularity for the same reason (and perhaps for that reason, does not go to PR when it would help them in the next election if their popularity is polling at just 33-percent area). (Milner, Obstacles to Electoral Reform (1994), p. 46-50, specifically p. 49)


=========


HISTORIC NOTE:

1977  Federal government established the Task Force on Canadian Unity (sometimes called the Pepin-Robarts Commission). It was co-chaired by former federal Liberal minister Jean-Luc Pepin and former Conservative premier of Ontario John Robarts.

The purpose of the Task Force was to recommend how to strengthen national unity. It recommended “a mixed electoral system with an element of proportional representation to ensure a broader regional representation in federal political parties”. (FVC website: 100 years of broken promises)

=========



William F. Irvine. Does Canada Need A New Electoral System? Kingston (Ontario): Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, Queen's University, 1979.




1984 -- Quebec almost got P.R. [I dont know anything about this]

Henry Milner. “Prospects for Electoral Reform in Canada: Lessons from Quebec’s Near-Adoption of PR in 1984.” In Voting and Democracy Report 1995 (Washington, D.C.: The Center for Voting and Democracy, 1995), pp. 159-163




1991 Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party Financing (established by the Mulroney government)

changing the electoral system was excluded from realm of possibility. (Milner, Obstacles to Electoral Reform (1993))

==============


1994

Henry Milner. “Obstacles to Electoral Reform in Canada.” American Review of Canadian Studies, Vol 24 (Spring, 1994): 39-55.

says tht result of 1993 federal eleciont showed how reform was needed,



1994 Dennis Pilon. The Drive for PR in BC, 1917-1923.

Simon Fraser University BA thesis.

(Dennis Pilon is a major force in Fair Vote Canada in 2020s)

(Pilon see 2007)

(available online:

file:///home/chronos/u-7471ce29d386ae6b6c8a0356e0b3c71f1425c61b/MyFiles/Downloads/b18026539.pdf

=====


1998 Jansen, Harold. The Single Transferable Vote in Alberta and Manitoba. UofA thesis.

discusses use of both STV and IRV in Alberta and Manitoba.


Choi (2021) described Jansen's thesis as "one of the few analyses of the effects of STV in Alberta"

Choi: Jansen found that STV had no appreciable effect on number of candidates, the number of independent candidates and voter turnout. Only effect was increase in the number of spoiled ballots and "...By Jansen's calculation, STV produced fairer and more proportional results than single-member plurality in Alberta, with a greater diversity of parties gaining seats in Edmonton and Calgary..."

[as the main goal of PR is fairer election results, Jansen's criticism actually gives credit to Pro-rep for what it is worth.

That P.R. is also successful at achieving its second main goal -- a large proportion of votes actually used to elect someone -- is ignored in Choi's summary of Jansen's analyses.]

===========


Henry Milner (editor).  Making Every Vote Count: Reassessing Canada’s Electoral System.   Broadview Press, 2001.

(see 1984)

===


2004 The independent Law Commission of Canada conducted a three-year study on electoral reform and submitted a report to the Minister of Justice entitled “Voting Counts: Electoral Reform for Canada”. The report recommending adopting Mixed Member Proportional Representation (MMP)

see 


===============


2004 Harold J. Jansen. "The Political Consequences of the Alternative Vote - Lessons from Western Canada" Canadian Journal of Political Science 37 (3), p. 647-69.

examined use of Instant-Runoff Voting (IRV) in provincial elections in Alberta 1924-1956, Manitoba 1924-1953, and BC in 1951 and 1952.

(Jansen see 1998)

=====


HISTORIC NOTE:

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs tabled a report in June, 2005, recommending a Special Committee on Electoral Reform and a “citizens consultation group” to make recommendations about how to modernize the electoral system. The government response was to agree with the report but say the timelines were unrealistic. Nothing was started before the next election in January, 2006.

=====


2004/2005 In 2004  British Columbia Citizens Assembly recommended STV for use in BC provincial elections.

STV received 58 percent of the votes in the 2005 referendum.

WIGM was the precise form of STV on offer. (perhaps STV advocates did not understand how complicated surplus vote transfers are under WGIM.) https://www.fairvote.ca/stvbc/)

Montopedia: "2005 referendum..."

Dennis Pilon, Canada's leading expert on electoral reform, produced a podcast on the 2005 BC referendum: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?app=desktop&list=PLzk1DUDCNAxkeAvKk5slO5y0uhvw_bITb


(for more PR referendums, see Wiki "Electoral reform")

======


2006 - New Brunswick - A electoral reform referendum was announced for 2008, but government defeated only a few months later. Proposal to be voted on was MMP - 36 members elected through FPTP; 20 additional top-up members elected from 4 regions, using closed lists, to produce proportionality. Threshold for top-up seats to be 5 percent of provincial vote.

====


2007 Ontario - Electoral reform referendum 67 percent of votes cast in favour of maintaining FPTP, 37 percent in favour of MMP

=====


2007 Dennis Pilon. The Politics of Voting, Reforming Canada's Electoral System.

Toronto: Edmund Montgomery Publishing, 2007.

Dennis Pilon is regarded as Canada's leading expert on electoral reform.

================


2009 BC's second referendum on electoral reform for provincial elections.

Choice was STV or FPTP.

FPTP won -- FPTP 61 percent; STV 39 percent.

STV system DM was to be in the 2-7 range. The form of STV on offer was to conduct transfer of surplus votes using the Inclusive Gregory Method (or perhaps WIGM), which likely would have required computer vote-counting machines.

For more information see https://rangevoting.org/BCSTVdefn and

(see 2018)

=====


HISTORIC NOTE:

During the 2015 election, the Liberals, NDP and Green parties all ran on commitments to make 2015 the last election with first-past-the-post.

The NDP and Greens favoured proportional representation.

The headline of the Liberal promise was to “Make Every Vote Count” (a Fair Vote Canada slogan). The only type of systems that aim to make every vote count as a principle are proportional. But Trudeau in 2024 revealed that he never intended pro-rep but instead IRV was only way that he would suport to reform the system.

======


2016

Trudeau Liberal government established the Electoral Reform Committee (ERRE).

When the ERRE report was released, the Liberals held a separate press conference and produced a Supplementary Report recommending the government break its campaign promise, calling it “radical” and “hasty“.

On a more constructive note, they also recommended that: 

“the Government further undertake a period of comprehensive and effective citizen engagement before proposing specific changes to the current federal voting system. We believe that this engagement process cannot be effectively completed before 2019.”

In February, 2017, the Liberals announced they were breaking their promise to reform the electoral system.

The NDP and Green parties wrote a Supplementary Report, in which they expressed support for a range of proportional options supported by the experts that the Liberals might be willing to compromise on, including one based on small, incremental steps and options that could include ranked ballot. (FVC website: 100 years of broken promises)

=======


2016 PEI electoral reform referendum - MMP received more than 52 percent support on the final count. IRV was used to establish winner. Government ignored the result

=====


2018 BC's third referendum on electoral reform. Choice was FPTP or change, and if change, which system would be its replacement -- Rural-Urban PR (some elected by STV or list PR, some by FPTP, with top-up members added overall), Dual-Member PR, MMP.

in first question FPTP won a majority of votes, versus change.

(STV, a part of the RUPR system, was to use the Weighted Inclusive Gregory Method (WIGM). but it seems to me those who endorsed it did not reallze how complicated surplus vote transfers are under WGIM. (For info on WIGM, see the Montopedia blog "Gregory method" .)


Dennis Pilon: "B.C.’s voting system referendum—the politics of choosing" Georgia Straight, Nov. 23, 2018


==========


2018 London (Ontario) used IRV in its city election. This is first time ranked votes have been used in a Canadian government election at any level since 1973.

No proportionality;

no majoritarian result even -- winner in many wards won with less than half of votes cast in the ward;

large number of exhausted votes apparently due to voters being able to mark only three preferences at the most.

ON Conservative government later banned anything but plurality electing - FPTP or Block Voting.

(Timmins ON, for example, uses both -- FPTP in single-member wards and four elected at-large ("Ward 5") by Block voting - in Ward 5 6700 voters cast 21,000 votes with apparently no proportionality produced.

======================


2019 PEI electoral reform referendum -- On the question "Should Prince Edward Island change its voting system to a mixed member proportional voting system?" 52 percent voted against change, 48 percent voted for change. Voting was split so evenly that each side took a majority of votes in less than 60 percent of the districts, so government did not consider it a clear decision.

=======


2019 Quebec government said next municipal election would also see voters vote on electoral reform in provincial elections, but in 2021 this decision was rescinded.

2022 Quebec election showed how wrong that decision had been.

Famous litumus test for fairness: Quebecois asking each other "did your vote count?" The reality for most was "no, my vote was not used to elect anyone."

=====


2021 Darren C. Choi. Alberta's Forgotten Experiment with Electoral reform. The Hybrid STV/Alternative vote and the Quasi-party system. UofA (Political Science Undergraduate Review)

(see 1998 for some of his statements)

======


2023 Charter Challenge of our Election System in Ontario Supreme Court.

Springtide and FVC BC

judge ruled that he could see fairness would improve with P.R. but he could not rule that FPTP was actually unconstitutional [even though some parties and women in general have perennially been under-represented, and millions of voters do not see their vote used to elect anyone.]

He also said that P.R. would require a constitutional amendment [which is not true - multi-member districts and STV are not forbidden by the constitution as long as districts do not cross provincial borders].

======


2024 Tom Monto. When Canada had Proportional Representation (fourth edition)

the only book-form publication devoted to discussing the historic use of STV in Canada in every province where it was used.

(epub and pdf version available by emailing montotom@yahoo.ca)


Monto, of Edmonton, was producer of this blog and of the Montopedia blogsite in general, and he was also author of two books - Old Strathcona Edmonton's Southside Roots and Protest and Progress - Three Labour Radicals in Early Edmonton - and several booklets on historic events.

==============

see

===

sources:

Weinrich Social Protest from the Left in Canada 1870-1970 A Bibliography. UofT Press (1920; 1923)


Hathi trust online


CIHM


===============

Index

Blake, Edward

Cartwright

Cridge

Fleming, Sandford


Harris, Joseph P. (1930)

Hooper, Ronald

Hunt, John D. (1921 1924)

Monto, Tom

Proportional Representation Committee of Ontario 1898

Toronto Federation for Majority Rule 1902, 1903

Tyson, Robert (1904, 1912)

UFA

UFO

Walker (New Westminster politician) (1891)

==================================================


Electoral reform in Canada since 2000


since 2000 there have been many moves towards electoral reform:


3 Citizens Assemblies  BC ON Yukon

BC Citizens Assembly (2004) called for STV

ON Citizens Assembly (2006) called for MMP

Yukon Citizens Assembly (2024) called for IRV

(each were (or will be) followed by a referendum)


10 legislative efforts  Canada federal 3 (1926, 1936, 2016) PEI 2 NB 2 Qu 3 Yukon

1926 W.C. Good initiative noted above

1936 noted above

House of Commons voting against establishing a federal-level Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform on Feb. 7, 2024


7 referenda    BC 3    PEI 3    ON (QU?) 

(two resulted in majority in favour of electoral reform. both of those were over-ridden by government -- 2005 BC, 2016 PEI


two multi-party agreements     BC QU  


But so far, none have produced actual change on the ground in the form of electoral reform. All provinces and federal elections still use FPTP.

(perhaps BC multi-party agreement produced switch from mixed SMD/MMDs to FPTP in SMDs)

===================================================================


WORKING NOTES

walker 1891 done

====================

not copied elsewhere

Toronto ILP constitution 81619;

public ownership 990785

Constitution of the Central Trades and Labour Council of the City of Montreal, 1886 (CIHM 64072)

UMWA constitution Fernie, BC 1905 (CIHM 84397)


Citizens Electoral Association (Vancouver) Constitution 1915 [president not mentioned] first vice-pres Patrick Donnelly, secretary W.H. McInnes

IODE amendments to the constitution 1920 Calgary 66693 Should Canadian women have the vote? 1913 CIHM 86114


Fuller, Government by the People (1908) (CIHM 65824)


Socialist Party of BC (CIHM 83287)


working hints for local unions of UFWA political situation page 17 mentions Hare PR



history of freedom page 97 pro rep


Not copied:

Report of Alberta Liberal convention Calgary 1919 [many other items on Liberal conventions in 1919]

The Initiative, referendum and recall c. 1912

Social Service Congress 1914

unfinished programme of democracy [1919?]

Calgary ideally situated ... [1919?]

Pros and cons [1914] [debating manual?] includes pro-rep

John H. Humphreys pro-rep 1911

catalogue of books in TO library (CIHM 86437)

Socialism as it is 1915

Early federation movement of Australia 1910


American Commonwealth p. 471 on pro-rep referendums:

"Virginia by her constitution of 1872 and South Dakota by hers of 1889 submitted proposals for pro-rep. both failed" (CIHM 65828)


Liberty of Parliament 1880 Henry Fawcett and Millicent Fawcett essays... (1872) (pro-rep) CIHM 61311)

1837 rebellion demand pro-rep [actually meant rep by pop.?] (CIHM 8038)


Defects of government 189 210101

Democracy or despotism


======================


=================

fourth dimension CIHM 9-90816

freedom

government by the people

hillquit socialism

Hillquit, Morris, 1869-1933., author

Title

Socialism in theory and practice

Published

New York ; Toronto : Macmillan, 1912.

Identifier

oocihm.65771

ILP


Man and NW Farmers 30526


Reminiscences cihm 76594


North Wester [1850s?] (appeal for responsible government)

O'Hanly resume and suggestions [Done below] (CIHM 36062)

Political situation and labour Toronto committee 1920


CIHM writing etc

=======

Conner, J. McArthur (James McArthur), d. 1938.

Title Public ownership

Published Toronto : Central Executive of the Independant Labor Party of Toronto, [192-?]

CIHM/ICMH microfiche series ; no. 9-90785


======

Mowat, Oliver, 1820-1903, author

Title

Reform government in Ontario : the benefits it has conferred upon the people : speeches delivered by the Hon. Oliver Mowat at Woodstock, Thursday eve'g, Dec. 12th, 1878, before his constituents, and in Toronto, Wednesday evening, Jan. 8th, 1879, before the Young Men's Reform Literary and Debating Club.

Published

[Toronto? : publisher not identified], 1879.

Identifier

oocihm.11163


====

Fuller, Robert Higginson, 1865-1927., author

Title

Government by the people : the laws and customs regulating the election system and the formation and control of political parties in the United States

Published

New York ; Toronto : Macmillan, 1908


====

1891 Fleming, Sandford, Sir, 1827-1915, author

Title

Parliamentary vs. party government : an address delivered at the opening of Queen's University, October 16th, 1891 ; A political problem : a paper

Published

[Kingston, Ont.? : publisher not identified], 1891.

Identifier

oocihm.06103


06103

===

Hume, James Gibson, 1860-1949, author

Title

Political economy and ethics

Published

Toronto : J.E. Bryant, 1892.

Identifier

oocihm.07048


07048

===

Moncrieff, William Glen, author

Title

Party and government by party

Published

Toronto : Copp, Clark; 1871.

Identifier

oocihm.23722


23722

===

Corless, C. V. (Charles Vandyke), d. 1953.

Title

CIHM/ICMH microfiche series ; no. 9-92083


"The Whitley scheme" : a step towards democratising industrial nations

Published

[Montréal? : s.n., 1918?]

Identifier

FC 02 0203 no. 9-92083


oocihm.9_92083

===

Ames, Herbert Brown, 1863-1954., author


Young Men's Christian Association of Montréal.

Title

Canadian political history : outlines of a course of ten lectures delivered in connection with the educational work of the Young Men's Christian Association of Montreal during the autumn of 1894

Published

Montreal : The Association, [1894?]

Identifier

oocihm.04012

===

Jenkins, Edward, 1861-1939., author

Title

The Temple primers.


A history of politics

Published

Toronto : G.N. Morang, [1901?]

Identifier

oocihm.83251


83251

===

Saskatchewan Women Grain Growers' Association author


Its history, constitution and platform

Published

[Saskatchewan?] : [publisher not identified], 1914.

Identifier

oocihm.78204

===


====

Hunt, John D., 1859-1940., author

Title

The dawn of a new patriotism : a training course in citizenship

Published

Toronto : Macmillan, 1917.

Identifier

oocihm.80903

==

Connolly, Cornelius, 1804-1891, author

Title

Thoughts on the origin, nature and destiny of man.


What is man?, or, Thoughts on the origin, nature, and destiny of man

Published

[Saint John, N.B.? : publisher not identified], 1868.

Identifier

oocihm.05996

==

Lawson, J. R. (James Reid), 1820-1891., author

Title

Why Reformed Presbyterians do not vote at political elections


The British elective franchise, or, Why Reformed Presbyterians do not vote at political elections : a discourse

Published

[St. John, N.B.? : publisher not identified], 1884.

Identifier

oocihm.25598

==

Dixon, F. J. (Frederick John), 1881-1931., author

Title

Direct legislation : address by F.J. Dixon before the Presbyterian Synod, on November 15th, 1911.

Published

[Winnipeg : Direct Legislation League of Manitoba, 1911?]

Identifier

oocihm.86011


86011

==

McLennan, J. S. (John Stewart), 1853-1939., author

Title

The Honourable J.S. McLennan on the desirability of betterment in the machinery of government


The machinery of government

Published

Ottawa : The Senate, 1919.

Identifier

oocihm.82911


82911

==

Whiteway, William Vallance, Sir, 1828-1908., author

Title

Manifesto from Sir William V. Whiteway, K.C.M.G., the leader of the Workingman's Party.

Published

[S.l. : publisher not identified, 1893?]

Identifier

oocihm.58858

===

Arguments against an elective legislative council.

Published

[Toronto? : publisher not identified], 1856.

Identifier

oocihm.34747

==

home rule

electors

edmund burke

patriot statemsan

indian myth

===


==

Southam, Wilson M. (Wilson Mills), 1868-1947., author

Title

Industrial unrest

Published

Ottawa : Citizen Pub. Company, [1919?]

Identifier

oocihm.66556

==

Le Sueur, William D. (William Dawson), 1840-1917., author

Title

The problem of popular government

Published

[Toronto? : publisher not identified, 1901?]

Identifier

oocihm.76564

==

Brown, J. C., author

Title

The political situation ably reviewed by J.C. Brown, M.P.P., in a comprehensive speech delivered at Westminster, May 19th, 1894.

Published

[New Westminster, B.C.? : publisher not identified, 1894?]

Identifier

oocihm.26299


=


Roberts, Richard, 1874-1945., author

Title

The unfinished programme of democracy

Published

London : Swarthmore Press, [1919?]

Identifier

oocihm.7761

==

Shortt, Adam, 1859-1931., author


McKay, Kenneth W., 1862-1941.


Wickett, S. Morley (Samuel Morley), 1872-1915.

Title

Bibliography of Canadian municipal government


Municipal organization in Ontario


University of Toronto studies. History and economics ; v. 2, no. 2.

======================

Municipal government in Ontario

Published

Toronto : University Library, publishing by the librarian, 1903.

Identifier

oocihm.76161

==

Vrooman, Frank Buffington, b. 1862.

Title

CIHM/ICMH microfiche series ; no. 9-91975


The new politics

Published

New York : Oxford University Press, c1911.

Identifier

FC 02 0203 no. 9-91975


oocihm.9_91975

===

pros and cons

syndicalism

===

Liberal Conservative Party (Ontario)


A pure ballot and an honest count ... : Ontario elections, 1905, Mr. J.P. Whitney, LL. D., K.C., M.P.P., for premier ... : the record and platform of the Liberal-Conservative Party : development, progress, reform and popular freedom, build up Ontario morally and materially : polling January 25, 1905.

Published

[Toronto? : publisher not identified, 1905?]

Identifier

oocihm.86677

===

McPherson, William David, 1863-1929., author

Title

The law of elections in Canada

Published

Toronto : Canada Law Book Company, 1905.

Identifier

oocihm.85382

===

Buchanan, D. W.

Title

The revival of an old idea


CIHM/ICMH microfiche series ; no. 9-90583


==


===

done to page 37 of result for representation search on CIHM

===

Cridge, Alfred, author

Title

Epitome of spirit-intercourse : a condensed view of spiritualism, in its scriptural, historical, actual and scientific aspects; its relations to Christianity, insanity, psychometry and social reform; manifestations in Nova Scotia; important communications from the spirits of Sir John Franklin and Rev. Wm. Wishart, St. John, N.B., with evidences of identity and directions for developing mediums

Published

Boston : B. Marsh, 1854.

Identifier

oocihm.18873





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