Electoral Reform committee  We do know that on average the duration of government is shorter under more proportional systems, which seems to suggest that they are more likely to have, at some point, somebody pulling the plug. In respect of policy outcomes, however, it might not necessarily be that differen

Electoral Reform committee  One thing I know is that immigrants adapt pretty quickly to new situations, including electoral situations. That's a positive. As to party choice, what we know about people choosing parties is that it's social. It's what your surroundings choose, the information you provide. Part

Electoral Reform committee  You would expect that over time—and this might not happen noticeably in the first election—the types of parties might change somewhat. You'll see new parties entering the system and different issues coming up.

Electoral Reform committee  You'll see more parties, but that's the whole point of more proportional systems. I'm pretty sure about that.

Electoral Reform committee  It comes down to what you mean by the intention of voters and what you mean by representation. Does it increase representation of ideological positions of voters in the legislature? Yes. There's no doubt about that. It does. Does that change policy outcomes? Arguably, you might w

Electoral Reform committee  No. For me, it is a way of seeing two sides of the same coin. I'm not advocating for either more or less proportionality. I agree that small parties are not the same as what we classify as radical or extreme parties. I'm just saying that if you want to open up the system to more

Electoral Reform committee  I do want to say that it's definitely not just the electoral system. The general theory in political science suggests that it's both what we call the social cleavage—the structure of society, the issues, the ideals that are in society—as well as what we call the permissiveness of

Electoral Reform committee  That's what I believe I said in my statement, that policy portfolios tend to be allocated proportional to the seats.

Electoral Reform committee  Very little.

Electoral Reform committee  Yes.

Electoral Reform committee  I'm very familiar with his work. I think one of the programs is the causality issue. We're not quite sure whether changing electoral systems creates the types of society he described.

Electoral Reform committee  Yes, but some of these countries are also very different. Some of these countries are smaller. I know he claims to control for some of these small sizes, but certain factors are hard to control for. When we have only a limited number of countries in the world, statistical analysi

Electoral Reform committee  He looked at several elections, but—

Electoral Reform committee  But there are just 36 countries, and I'm not saying that he doesn't make a number of very good points and he is one of our major political scientists in this discipline, but I think you have to be very careful with drawing causal conclusions.

Electoral Reform committee  I find it very difficult to say since we also, again, have a very limited number of countries where they have STV—