As Anne McGrath said on the CBC Politics programme yesterday, "let's deal with the underlying problem - reforming our electoral system." As Fair Vote Canada said:
“In Montreal 15% of voters voted Conservative. They deserve to have elected three of Montreal's 18 MPs. Ones who had faced the voters.
“Our dysfunctional voting system failed to provide representation for almost half a million Conservative voters in our largest cities,” said Wayne Smith, President of Fair Vote Canada.
“Had the same votes been cast in a fair voting system, Conservative voters would have elected approximately nine MPs in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto,” said Smith. “creating a pool of legitimately elected representatives for cabinet consideration. But our dysfunctional voting system failed us again, and so our new government is built on backroom brokerage.”
“This is exactly the political behaviour that sickens Canadians,” said Larry Gordon, Executive Director of Fair Vote Canada. “Mr. Harper had a choice. He could have acknowledged our voting system denies fair representation for millions of voters from all parties. He could have chosen to launch a reform process to give every Canadian an equal vote. Instead, on day one of his new government, he resorts to backroom deals that do a complete end run around voters.”