On October 3, 2022, the people of Quebec elected the 125 members of the National Assembly who will make up the 43e Quebec legislature. Among its members, 90 will represent the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ). The support of 40.98% of voters will have led to the election of 72% of CAQ MNAs, while support for all the other political parties of 59.02% reflected in the election of barely 30 members and 28% of the deputies.
Such a distortion results from the first-past-the-post voting system, the consequences of which have been illustrated more clearly than in any poll in the history of Quebec. In the Commitment on the Reform of the Voting System of May 9, 2018 signed by François Legault and the leaders of the Parti Québécois, Québec solidaire and the Green Party of Québec, it was agreed “to abandon the first-past-the-post system because of the democratic snags it generates in terms of equitable citizen representation”. It was understood that it would be replaced by a compensatory mixed proportional voting system with regional lists.
After tabling the bill establishing a new voting system (Bill no.oh 39) and made a first hitch to his commitment by providing that the new voting system would only come into effect following a referendum held at the same time as the general election of October 3, 2022, Prime Minister Legault renounced the adoption of Bill no.oh 39. He refused to implement a ballot reform which would have been characterized by the election of an assembly always comprising 125 members, 80 being elected and elected in constituencies and 45 on the basis of regions.
The application of this reform would have significantly corrected the distortions of the October 3 election. The CAQ would have elected, with 40.98% of the vote, no longer 90 members, but 75, or 60% of the deputation. The oppositions could have counted on 50 members, or 40% of the deputation, for the 57.32% of the votes that had been granted to them. The number of members of the three opposition groups would have increased and would have reflected more the percentage of votes obtained. Québec solidaire would have gone from 11 to 14 members, the Parti québécois from 3 to 10 and the Conservative Party from 0 to 10. The representation of the PLQ would have decreased from 21 to 16, which would have better reflected the fact that this party had obtained less of votes than the other opposition parties.
Because of regional representation, the parties would have had members elected in all regions of Quebec, and the CAQ, the government party, would have had increased representation in Montreal. Very often criticized for the instability it could cause, the new voting system would not have prevented the CAQ from having a parliamentary majority.
The distortions would have been further corrected if the modifications proposed by the New Democracy Movement (MDN) had been incorporated into Bill no.oh 39. Aiming to establish a method of calculation more respectful of the compensatory effect sought for regional seats, application of the MDN project would have reduced the distortions between the percentage of votes obtained and the number of seats allocated. Thus, the CAQ would have obtained 67 seats (53.6%), QS 16 (12.8%), the PQ, the PLQ and the PCQ each 14 (11.2%). Such a result would thus have had the consequence that the party having obtained the highest percentage of votes, in this case QS, would have formed the Official Opposition.
Undeniable popular support
After asserting during the election campaign that reforming the voting system was “not a priority for Quebeckers”, Premier Legault should take note of the fact that Quebeckers have given higher popular support to parties favoring the reform of the voting system (43.70% by adding the votes granted to the Green Party of Quebec against 40.98% for the CAQ). He should also bear in mind the Léger post-electoral poll, the results of which show that 53% of the population wants a reform of the voting system.
If such were not to be the case, another way will be necessary, that of the recourse to the judges and of a fight which it will be necessary to finish… in front of the courts. Such an avenue could prove fruitful in light of the 2003 judgment rendered by the Supreme Court of Canada in the case Figueroa v. Canada (Attorney General). Relying on section 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guaranteeing the right to vote, this court affirmed by the voice of its three judges from Quebec the following:
Rather, section 3 imposes a positive obligation on the state to establish an electoral system which, in turn, ensures the existence of a democratic government corresponding to the choices of Canadian voters. Assessing this system against the constitutional ideals of effective representation and meaningful participation in the democratic process requires asking how well it serves Canadian society as a whole and the groups that make up our social fabric. To assess the fairness of the system, we must then compare the situation of the citizen concerned with that of the others. The rights guaranteed by Article 3 certainly retain an effective individual character, but their scope depends on their social and relational context.
Basing myself on section 22 of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, the content of which is similar to that of section 3 of the Canadian Charter, I mean, in my capacity as a citizen and an elector and if things don’t move quickly, take legal action. And I will invite citizens, civil society and political parties to join such an initiative. An initiative which will also aim to honor, in this year of the 100e anniversary of his birth, the memory of René Lévesque who really wanted to reform the voting system and make Quebec an eminently more democratic state.