Electoral Reform committee  Sure, depending on how large you make district size, STV can be less proportional than a classical PR system and then, yes--

Electoral Reform committee  I wish there were a simple solution, and I'm not convinced there necessarily is a way to avoid a rise of a radical...other than if it's not an issue in the population and if it's indeed not an issue that is relevant. In that sense maybe what's more important is the social base. I

Electoral Reform committee  First, I want to point out that just because you might see anti-immigrant parties—and by no means is this a given—that doesn't mean they will be the ones making policy, which relates to my other point. They might not end up in government. I know of some research which shows that

Electoral Reform committee  Yes. Then when it comes to Canadians, and with all due respect to Canada.... I love Canada as a country. I love the people. I love the values of tolerance. But I come from the Netherlands, and I grew up in a country that was very tolerant, very multicultural, and then there was

Electoral Reform committee  I know that, yes.

Electoral Reform committee  Yes.

Electoral Reform committee  I'm certainly open, and you misunderstand me if you think I'm necessarily against more proportional systems. That's not what I say. I see my role more as placing some caveats and opening up the information to the Canadian people. As for the system, I will refrain from actually s

Electoral Reform committee  I find it a very difficult question. I do agree with my colleague that maybe certain issues should not be put to a referendum. When it comes to an electoral system change, I think there first needs to be an extensive public consultation. I know there are numbers currently of pe

Electoral Reform committee  I think it's very difficult. You can play around with the thresholds, and make thresholds higher or lower in order to ensure that certain smaller parties don't get elected. However, if you're opening a system that's more proportional, which I don't think is necessarily a bad thin

Electoral Reform committee  Regarding collaboration, whereas we have two or three major parties, what happens then, of course, is more interest between parties. One important thing to bear in mind is that, for instance, we know from research that if you look at the coalitions that form, they tend to not cro

Electoral Reform committee  I most certainly think there is a relationship between the electoral system and the chance of a radical-right party gaining ground. It's not the only explanation. Look at what happened in Britain. It has a similar system as we have, and we've seen radical parties there under spec

Electoral Reform committee  Thank you very much, Chair and members of the committee, for the invitation to appear today. I want to address one of the principles for electoral reform that form the basis of the committee's mandate, namely, that of effectiveness and legitimacy. In particular, the principle st

Electoral Reform committee  It's de Rooij.