Re: Letters: Exposing extremism to protect democracy, March 13
Recently there has been discussion in various media about changing the federal voting system in Canada from the current first-past-the-post system to proportional representation in the Senate and House of Commons. While it is legally possible to do so, any changes are unlikely as Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces were guaranteed additional seats as set out in the Canadian constitution when Canada was formed and the changes require consent of a majority of the provinces and a majority of the population.
The Constitution Act of 1982 is constrained to amend the seat allocation formula set out in the Constitution Act 1867 in the following sections: section 41(b) and section 42(1)(a); Section 41(b) requires the approval of all provinces in addition to the consent of the Senate and the House of Commons for amendments to the senatorial clause at section 51 of the Constitution Act 1867.
As well, section 42(1)(a) prescribes that an amendment to the proportional representation of provinces in the House of Commons must be made using the general amending formula set out in section 38 that requires the support of at least seven provinces representing at least 50 per cent of the population of all the provinces in addition to the consent of the Senate and the House of Commons.
False hopes may have been raised when former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made election promises to change the federal voting procedures in Canada, as he was either ignorant of the facts or misleading the voters.
Patrick Mackle
Kaslo
