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You're right to be upset - the government has its thumb on the scale.

Our current First-Past-the-Post voting system is intended, by design, to:

    • Benefit those in power
    • Push you to vote “strategically”
    • Deny half the voters an MP or MLA they support
    • Suppress opposition and minority voices and participation
    • Under-represent women and visible minorities
    • Manufacture majorities on less than half the popular vote
    • Exacerbate inter-regional tensions

FPTP is essentially gerrymandering – it's rigged so those in power get the election result they want, regardless of how everyone else votes.

Better ways of voting can improve our politics

Most advanced democracies don't have these problems - instead, they use more inclusive and representative ways of voting that:

    • Let all voters vote sincerely and elect someone they support
    • Create parliaments that proportionately reflect how people voted
    • Only give governments majority power if they win over 50% of the vote
    • Promote fair representation of women and visible minorities
    • Elect opposition voices in all regions of the country

We have lots of options – our task is to push the politicians in power to make this change, even though they don't want to. 

How We're Making Change

Our Current Campaigns

Fair Voting BC is leading a Charter Challenge (in partnership with Springtide, NS) to the constitutionality of our federal voting system, alleging that the current elections law violates our rights to effective representation, meaningful participation, and equal treatment. We are currently seeking leave to appear before the Supreme Court.

The BC provincial government has convened a Special Committee to examine our current voting system and report back to the legislature by the end of November 2025. Fair Voting BC made an official submission and oral presentation to the committee.

Our Collaborations

Vote16 is an initiative led by Unlock Democracy Canada that seeks to extend voting rights in federal elections to 16- and 17-year-olds. We believe the arguments in favour of this are very strong, and endorse both their legislative efforts and an associated legal challenge (currently awaiting a hearing date).

BC Local Choice is an informal advocacy group pushing for the province to grant municipalities across BC the power to adopt a more inclusive and representative voting system than the current discriminatory At-Large Block Voting system. Justice Tom Berger originally recommended back in 2004 that Vancouver seek this permission from the provincial government, but it has not yet been granted.

Fix City Hall is an initiative led by former Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart to challenge the constitutionality of BC's At-Large Block Voting system, which is widely used around the province. While we share this goal, Stewart is calling for a change to either wards (FPTP in municipalities) or proportional alternatives. We only endorse the latter, so we are carefully watching this initiative.