PR is key to a green
and just recovery

Proportional Representation and the Six Principles for a Just Recovery

By Cymry Gomery, Fair Vote Canada

Six Principles for a Just Recovery, a plan endorsed by over 150 Canadian civil organizations, calls on the government to put people first and move toward a more equitable and sustainable future . ¹ While the proposal is popular with Canadians, it has yet to receive support from the government. This difference in priorities between politicians and the people they represent is a familiar barrier in Canadian politics and can only be overcome by the adoption of Proportional Representation.

Greenpeace, 350 Canada ², Leadnow ³ and Nature Canada ⁴ are just a few of the 150 organizations joining in the call.⁵ While each organization has its own focus – be it the environment, climate change, the many facets of social justice, or nature – they have managed to unite their visions around six principles:

1. Put people’s health first, no exceptions.
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2. Strengthen the social safety net and provide relief directly to people.
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3. Prioritize the needs of workers and communities.
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4. Build resilience to prevent future crises.
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5. Build solidarity and equity across communities, generations, and borders
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6. Uphold Indigenous rights and work in partnership with Indigenous peoples.

Here I will look at these principles one by one, to see how proportional representation is key to a green and just recovery.⁶

The difference in priorities between politicians and the people they represent is a familiar barrier in Canadian politics and can only be overcome by the adoption of Proportional Representation.

Health

Health is a human right that is interdependent on the health of ecological systems. The Just-recovery site advises governments to:

[E]nsure that all policies and programs address the social, economic and environmental determinants of health and are responsive to the climate emergency, which is, in itself, a health crisis. Learn from the pandemic: develop policies and make investments that keep communities and workplaces, particularly those on the frontlines, safe.

Canada, despite its Medicare system, comes in at a lowly number 26 ⁷ in health care rankings based on presence and quality of health care system, health care professionals, equipment, staff, doctors, and cost. Of the 25 countries that outperformed Canada in these criteria, 60% had Proportional Representation voting systems.⁸

Social safety net

Prioritize redistributive policies and social services that meet the immediate and long-term needs of all people and eliminate social, economic, and wealth inequalities. Rebuild a single-tier immigration system with permanent resident status for all.

Lately, the call for a Universal Basic Income has been getting stronger. This would certainly be a part of the plan to reduce income inequalities. However, there are no countries with UBI for the moment, although there are many that are experimenting with the idea, including Canada.⁹

‘… a Proportional Representation system would ensure that Canada’s members of parliament were a truly diverse demographic representation of Canada’s people…’

If we turn our attention to structural inequalities, we must consider how systemic racism affects Black and Indigenous communities in Canada. Here, a Proportional Representation system would ensure that Canada’s members of parliament were a truly diverse demographic representation of Canada’s people since voters tend to favour those who reflect their community, physically, culturally, and politically.

Currently, of Canada’s 338 MPs, only eight (2.3%) are Black. (Ten are Indigenous,¹⁰ meaning that we are doing quite well in that aspect, considering the Indigenous Canadians form 4.43% of the population.) ¹¹ In a truly demographically representative parliament, 15.6% of MPs would be people of colour, corresponding to the percentage of the population that identifies as such.¹²

Prioritize the needs of workers and communities

One way to free up funds for the majority of the population is to stop the rich from hogging all that money. In other words,

Bailout packages must not encourage unqualified handouts, regulatory rollbacks, or regressive subsidies that enrich shareholders or CEOs, particularly those who take advantage of tax havens. These programs must support a just transition away from fossil fuels that creates decent work and leaves no one behind.

The current Liberal government is up to its ears in a quid pro quo scandal for having attempted to allocate a huge amount of money to the WE Charity, which itself paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to members of the Trudeau family. A proportional representation government, in which one-party rule is replaced by a coalition of parties that share power and responsibility, would provide a natural barrier to this sort of behaviour.

‘ A PR system would favour true multi-party government, thus breaking the one-party stranglehold on power. A PR government could then update electoral law to close the loopholes that allow tax havens – and the corruption that they foster – to persist.’

Tax havens are problematic because donors based in foreign tax havens, or operating through untraceable shell companies, can pump in money to influence our political parties. Others allow for unscrupulous individuals and foreign actors to pay for anonymous ads online or pump out disinformation during election periods to sway the result. No wonder these tax-haven-friendly loopholes exist, when the political parties currently in power rely on them election after election.

A PR system would favour a true multi-party government, thus breaking the one-party stranglehold on power. A PR government could then update electoral law to close the loopholes that allow tax havens – and the corruption that they foster – to persist.¹³

Build resilience

Recovery plans should move us toward a diversified economy and systems that […] protect land, water, and air; that uphold human rights and rights of Indigenous peoples; that support people who are not in the workforce to thrive; that create decent jobs; and that foster social, emotional, and cultural health and resiliency from infants to elders.

To achieve this resilience, Canadians have to create a society in which people are economically secure (UBI), and in which we recognize the rights of nature, moving away from the irresponsible and short-term mindset that sees Canada’s forests, lakes, oceans, animals and nature as resources to be exploited. The natural world is an irreplaceable treasure and it needs legal recognition as such.

To get there, we would have to give more voice to Indigenous communities and innovate with the concepts of degrowth, and prioritizing art and culture over manufacturing and import/export. Research shows that proportional representation is associated with better environmental outcomes. ¹⁴

‘The natural world is an irreplaceable treasure and it needs legal recognition as such… Research shows that proportional representation is associated with better environmental outcomes.’

Build solidarity and equity

Recovery plans must honour and expand human rights, including the rights of Indigenous peoples, and advance gender equity while opposing authoritarian regimes and oppressive systems.

The 2015 Truth and Reconciliation commission resulted in 94 Calls to Action.¹⁵ Similarly, the statement by the Parliamentary Black Caucus includes a precise list of action items.¹⁶ (Canada belatedly adopted the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2016 ¹⁷, although no precise action plan has materialized as yet.) Implementing these “to do” lists would improve human rights in Canada.

We could expand human rights and gender equality by taking the cue of countries that have adopted PR voting systems. These countries elect, on average, around 10% more women than nations that use FPTP, and their parliaments better reflect the diversity of their populations.¹⁸

Work in partnership with Indigenous peoples

The previous principles have shown how Proportional Representation would improve the health, political representation and equity of Indigenous peoples. A coalition government typical of countries with a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) model of PR could include an Indigenous party, such has long existed in New Zealand.¹⁹

Make the connection

Many people find it hard to make the connection between PR and the causes that they care about, such as women’s rights, the environment, the economy, climate change, animal rights, and so on. However, you don’t have to be a mathematician or a political wonk to grasp the benefits of PR. If you can understand how bad government can make life hell for its citizenry – and there are plenty of examples of that historically (Nazi Germany, Yugoslavia) and in modern times (Lebanon), some quite close to home (the US) – then you can understand how it is that there is a direct correlation between government and human happiness and wellbeing.

‘The next time you are reading the news, and come across an example of a progressive policy that you admire, check out that country’s electoral system – there is a good chance it is one of the ninety-odd countries that has PR.’

Here is an exercise for you to try: The next time you are reading the news, and come across an example of a progressive policy that you admire, check out that country’s electoral system – there is a good chance it is one of the ninety-odd countries that have PR. If we recognize PR as a sort of golden key that will open the door to achieving a green and just recovery for Canada, then we can set the stage for the better future that we know is possible.

1. greenpeace.org/canada/en/press-release/38174/put-people-first-demand-over-150-canadian-organizations-with-the-launch-of-six-principles-for-a-just-recovery/
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2. 350.org/just-recovery/?_ga=2.149955765.2064962194.1597670304-686306893.1597670304
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3. justrecoveryforall.ca/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=blast2020-07-13
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4. naturecanada.ca/news/blog/putting-nature-at-the-heart-of-canadas-recovery/
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5. greenpeace.org/canada/en/press-release/38174/put-people-first-demand-over-150-canadian-organizations-with-the-launch-of-six-principles-for-a-just-recovery/
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6. justrecoveryforall.ca/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=blast2020-07-
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7. numbeo.com/health-care/rankings_by_country.jsp
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8. They were Austria, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Finland, Czech Republic, Norway, New Zealand, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Estonia, Sri Lanka and Portugal.
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9. worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-with-universal-basic-income
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10. cbc.ca/news/indigenous/indigenous-candidates-elected-2019-federal-election-1.5330380
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11. statcan.gc.ca/eng/subjects-start/indigenous_peoples
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12. 150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-657-x/89-657-x2019002-eng.htm
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13. electoral-reform.org.uk/government-inaction-has-left-the-door-wide-open-to-foreign-interference-in-uk-politics/
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14. fairvote.ca/climate/
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15. cbc.ca/news/politics/truth-and-reconciliation-94-calls-to-action-1.3362258
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16. matthewgreen.ndp.ca/news/statement-parliamentary-black-caucus
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17. globalnews.ca/news/6101723/undrip-indigenous-relations-canada/
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18. bcmatters.ca/proportional-representation-will-elect-more-women-more-diverse-candidates/
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19. theconversation.com/lessons-for-canada-in-new-zealands-indigenous-friendly-electoral-system-83768

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of WestmountMag.ca or its publishers.

Feature image: courtesy of 100possible.ca

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