Representation
The Fact Checker investigates claims made about proportional representation by opponents, proponents, and media columnists.
All information on this site has been validated for accuracy by two of Canada’s top electoral reform experts,
Dr. Dennis Pilon and Dr. Brian Tanguay
Under Proportional Representation we’re going to see a loss of regional representation.
Proportional representation creates perpetual minority governments and instability.
Voter turnout is 7% higher on average in countries with proportional representation.
Proportional Representation is a way to keep the NDP and Greens in power indefinitely.
Dennis Pilon received his Bachelor in Sociology/History, and Masters in History from Simon Fraser University and his PhD from York University in Politics. In 2005/06 he was the Canada Research Chair Postdoctoral Fellow in Canadian Studies at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.
From 2006 to 2011 he was an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Victoria. In 2011 he was hired as an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at York. His research has focused primarily on issues of democratization and democratic reform in western countries.
He is the author of Wrestling with Democracy: Voting Systems as Politics in the Twentieth Century West, 2013; co-editor of Politics and Government in British Columbia, 2009; and author of The Politics of Voting: Reforming Canada’s Electoral System, 2007.
He has taught political science at Wilfrid Laurier University, Trent University, University of Ottawa and Carleton University.
In 2003-2004, Brian worked for the Law Commission of Canada as the lead author of Voting Counts: Electoral Reform for Canada, a 200 page report that was submitted to the federal Minister of Justice in March 2004 recommending Mixed Member proportional representation.
In 2005, Brian was invited as an expert witness to appear before select committees of both the Ontario and Quebec provincial governments to comment on proposed legislation on electoral reform.