We are due to have a friend from Australia visiting in a few weeks time, and I was lying in bed sleepless and bored, as I often do, thinking what I would say to the inevitable question, "So, how are things politically in Canada?"
Without going into too many details, how would I answer that, in general terms? Well, probably something along these lines:
It's a first-past-the-post electoral system here, both federally and provincially, so what happens in practice is that, for a few years we'll have a liberal/left party in power, and a bunch of stuff will get done, some money will get spent (somewhat inefficiently) on improving the lives of the majority, and the country will feel that it can hold up its head internationally for a while.
Then, politicians will become corrupt or lazy or just otherwise lose their way, or people will decide that a change is needed for change's sake, and a conservative government will get elected for a while. They will devote all their efforts to single-mindedly reversing out any progressive measures the previous administration managed to bring in, the country will gradually run down - economically, socially, environmentally, and in terms of its international reputation and respect - and all that will really happen is that the richer people get even richer, which helps no-one, not even those rich people.
Eventually, the majority of people get fed up of that too, realize that they are not actually any better off than they were, and that any promises that were made were largely hollow, and another liberal/left government is installed. Rinse and repeat.
Call me cynical and jaded, but that is actually what tends to happen, long-term. It's probably no worse than many other places, and definitely better than most. Would a proportional representation system of some kind be any better? Well, maybe not. But maybe. So, why don't we give it a go, just in case. PR has its own drawbacks, of course - everyone knows that - but the current roller-coaster system is just so inefficient and counterproductive and frustrating that almost anything would be an improvement.
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