Timeline of Canadian provincial/federal Electoral Reform -- instances where there was more than just re-districting and where a new election system was adopted

Recent research on Canada electoral reform shows that of our 13 provinces and territories, six began with multi-member districts electing all their members

 (Yukon using Block voting to elect all its elected members anyway)

 or a mix of MMDs and single-member districts.

and then electoral reform changed from that.

this is a different picture than assuming that all 13 started with FPTP and moved, or not, from there, and then that those that had changed resumed FPTP, which is what all 13 use today.

with Yukon though set to use Alternative Voting in next election (2025), I think.

in fact only Quebec has used single-member districts for all the time since 1867, Nunavut has used SMDs since its creation in 2000.

all other nine provinces and the other two territories used multi-member districts at one time or another and some non-FPTP system.

AB, MB BC have used ranked votes, in single-member districts and multi- member districts. 

AB and MB used ranked votes in STV and IRV applications

BC used a form of IRV  in single-winner contests only, some in single- member districts, some in MMDs.

AB, MB, BC and ON have used systems other than FPTP or Block voting or the odd post/seat system - odd but, like the other two, not proportional.

BC in its use of seat/post system used IRV in MMDs in 1952 and 1953 elections. Its rules stated that no party could run more than one candidate for each seat, so only cross-party transfers took place. 

this is what usually happens in IRV anyway - a party does not not run more than one candidate even though vote transfers could prevent any harm from vote splitting. 

when only one candidate runs for a party, it is usually a male, so that may explain why IRV does not generally produce better gender equality.

(when AB used ranked votes, only time a party ran more candidates than seats in a district was in STV in Calgary in 1955. SC ran seven candidates while Calgary district had six seats. SC suffered no loss from that, ending up with at least as many votes at the end as its candidates' combined vote tallies in the first round.

in no IRV contest in AB did a party run more than one candidate in a district.)

for a period of time, ON, MB and PEI (longest of all, more than 100 years) used the seat/post system  where separate contests were used to fill individual seats in MMDs. 

each of them used FPTP to fill each seat.

this is not the usual FPTP but, like the usual FPTP, is not proportional.

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the status quo before reforms:

Three provinces used only Block Voting and MMDs when they joined Confederation:

NB, NS and PEI.

Two provinces used a mixture of MMDs and SMDs when they joined Confederation:

BC and NFLD.

Three more -- Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba -- universally used first past the post when they joined Confederation. (All three territories used FPTP in their first territorial elections.)

Two others -- Alberta and Saskatchewan -- joined Confederation in 1870 as part of NWT but became provinces in 1905. As provinces, they universally used first past the post in their first provincial elections but soon used a mixture of MMDs and SMDs.

1867 - Quebec held its first election as province after Confederation using FPTP. (Previously it had used mixture of Block Voting in MMDs and single-winner First Past the Post (FPTP) (otherwise known as Single Member Plurality).

Ontario too held its first election as a province after Confederation using FPTP.

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick also joined in 1867. At that time they used MMDs and elected none using single-winner FPTP.

Nova Scotia used mixture of two- and three-seat districts when it joined Confederation. (Block voting was in use)

New Brunswick - The MLAs, of which a majority voted for NB to join Confederation, had been elected in 1866 in five 4-seat districts, one 3-seat district and nine two-seat districts. (Saint John City (a provincial district) elected two members from 1795 to 1973.)

1870 - BC began to use a mixture of Block Voting in MMDs and FPTP when it joined Confederation.

1870 Manitoba held its first election as a province after Confederation using FPTP.

(1870 North-West Territories used SMDs in its first territorial elections.)

1873 PEI joined Confederation. It used 16 two-seat districts to elect the 32 MLAs in its legislative assembly.

=== end of statement of status quo for seven provinces and one territory ==

(status quo for AB, SK and NFLD discussed in 1905 and 1949 below)

first reforms away from pre-existing status quo

1886 - Ontario -- Three Toronto MLAs elected in an MMD using Limited Voting. (Previously it had used single-winner First Past The Post (FPTP).)

1891 - North-West Territories adopted an MMD and Block Voting.  (previously had only used FPTP)

1894 - Ontario adopted FPTP to elect all MLAs. (this is first reversal of a previous electoral reform)

1894 - North-West Territories adopted FPTP to elect all members

1900 Yukon got its first elected members, elected them through Block Voting.

Yukon's first election saw two elected through Block Voting in a two-seat MMD to elect both elected members (some were appointed)

1903 - Yukon adopted mixed FPTP and Block Voting.

1905 - Yukon adopted FPTP to elect all members

(1905 Alberta and Saskatchewan held their first elections as provinces using FPTP)

1909 - Alberta adopted mixed FPTP and Block Voting in MMD. DM in MMDs peaked at 5 during use of Block Voting.

1909 - Yukon adopted Block Voting in MMDs to elect all elected members (some were appointed)

1914 - Manitoba used mixed system of FPTP and one MMD (Winnipeg) where post/seat system was used. (previously used FPTP)

1914 - Ontario adopted mixed FPTP and Block Voting in three Toronto MMDs.

1920 - Yukon adopted FPTP to elect all members

1920 - Manitoba adopted mixed FPTP and STV in Winnipeg (DM-10)

1920 - Saskatchewan adopted mixed FPTP and Block Voting. ( (previously, since 1905 had only used FPTP)

1923 - Manitoba adopted mixed Instant-Runoff Voting and STV in Winnipeg (DM-10)

1924 - Alberta adopted mixed STV and Instant-Runoff Voting.

1926 - Ontario adopted FPTP to elect all MLAs.

(1949 -- Newfoundland used a mixture of MMDs and SMDs when it joined Confederation.)

1952 - BC adopted Instant-Runoff Voting to elect all its MLAs, including both those in single-member districts and those in multi-member districts.

1954 - BC adopted mixed FPTP and Block Voting in MMDs.

1955 - Manitoba adopted FPTP to elect all MLAs

1956 - Alberta adopted FPTP to elect all MLAs

1967 - Saskatchewan adopted FPTP to elect all members

1967 - New Brunswick  adopted mixed FPTP and Block Voting. (previously had only used Block Voting in MMDs)

1968 - Federal elections stopped using Block Voting at all. Halifax and Queen's were divided into single-member districts. Federal elections adopted FPTP to elect all MPs.

1974 - New Brunswick first used FPTP to elect all members

1975 - Newfoundland and Labrador adopted FPTP to elect all members

1978 - Nova Scotia adopted FPTP to elect all members

1990 - BC adopted FPTP to elect all MLAs

1996 - PEI adopted FPTP to elect all MLAs.

(Previously PEI elections had been special cases, a special kind of post/seat election system. Each district elected two members. At one time voters who owned property in the district voted for the Councilman while voters resident in the district joined with the property-owners to vote for the Assemblyman. Later the exact same voters were allowed to vote for each of the two members in a district, but still each seat was filled in separate contest.)

(2025 - Yukon to vote on change to IRV to elect all its members at time of 2025 T election)

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Instances of ER largest DM

(bold = adoption of STV, IRV or LV)

NL 1 (1975) 2 (Harbour Main 1949-1975)

NB 2 (1967, 1974) 2

NS 1 (1978) 4 (Cape Breton 1916-1925)

PEI 1 (1996) 2

ON 4 (1886, 1893, 1914, 1926) 3

QU 1 (1867) 3 (Montreal and QU City 1858-1861)

MB 3 (1920, 1923, 1955) 10 (Winnipeg 1920-1949)

SK 2 (1920, 1967) 3

AB 3 (1909, 1924, 1955) 7 (Edmonton 1952, 1955)

BC 3 (1952, 1953, 1990) 6 (Vanc. City 1916-1933)

Provincial subtotal 21

9 instances where STV, IRV or LV brought in or cancelled)

NWT 2 2

Yukon 5 1900, 1903, 1905, 1909, 1920) 2

Nunavut 0 1

federal elections 1 (1968) 2 (Halifax 1867-1968); Queen's PEI -1968)

TOTAL 29

other than cases where ON, MB and AB adopted STV, IRV or LV,

all elections were held using plurality to determine the winners,

but some variety regarding the districting --

just MMDs (all-BV), or

a mix of MMDs and SMD (BV/FPTP), or

just SMDs (all-FPTP).

just MMDs - three provinces --NB, NS and PEI.

NB went to a mix of MMDs and SMD

NS and PEI went from all-BV to all-FPTP.

a mix of MMDs and SMD - two provinces --BC and NFLD

BC went to IRV, back to a mix of MMDs and SMD; then to all-FPTP

NFLD - went from a mix of MMDs and SMDs, to all-FPTP

starting with just SMDs and FPTP -- four provinces

just SMDs and FPTP, to LV, then all-FPTP, then to a mix of MMDs and SMDs -- ON

just SMDs and FPTP to a mix of MMDs and SMDs, then STV/IRV -- AB

just SMDs and FPTP to a mix of MMDs and SMDs, then STV/FPTP, then STV/IRV -- MB

just SMDs and FPTP to a mix of MMDs and SMDs -- SK

(the above nine provinces all reverted to all-FPTP between 1953 and 1996)

Quebec went to all-FPTP in 1867 and has always used that system ever since.

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

Some say there have been ten instances of electoral reform at provincial level,

I think they must mean these 5 cases:

-ON adopted LV/FPTP

(then reverted to all-FPTP, later adopting BV/FPTP, then all-FPTP again)

-MB where adopted STV/FPTP, then STV/IRV, (then reverted to all-FPTP)

-AB adopted STV/IRV (and then reverted to all-FPTP),

-BC where adopted IRV,

(then reverted to a mix of MMDs and SMDs, later adopting all-FPTP),

plus five more

but don't know what those five are...

likely they include the four switches in ON, BC, AB and MB to all-FPTP mentioned above

and one more but I don't know what that one is...

perhaps he distinguishes the end of STV in Winnipeg (in 1955) from the end of IRV in MB rural districts (also in 1955), because those systems were brought in at different times, 1920 and 1923 respectively.

These examples also could qualify as Electoral Reform --

-when Quebec, NB, NS, PEI, NL, SK, BC, ON dropped their use of BV in MMDs (or BV/FPTP mix) and switched to all-FPTP;

-when Winnipeg switched from one district and DM-10 STV to three districts and DM-4 STV;

-when Medicine Hat dropped STV;

-when St. Boniface adopted STV.

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