Minority party, majority power not democracy

Doling out majority power to a minority party is not democracy.

Take Stephen Harper for example. He’s a very polarizing figure who won absolute power on 40% of the vote in 2011, when the vast majority of Canadians were opposed to it. When in opposition, Harper called this kind of outcome a “benign dictatorship.”

Democracy means rule by the people. Since people can’t agree on everything, government (by the people) defaults to majority rule. That means 50% plus one vote.

When a minority party gets majority power, this means the actual majority of voters is shut out of government. That is the literal opposite of democracy.

We need to modernize our voting system (like the rest of the developed world,) so government represents an actual majority. Either Preferential Voting (ranked ballot) or Proportional Representation will get the job done.

Politicians must not be entitled to power they didn’t earn.