One Green is worth 16 Conservatives

I have often thought of reversing the way that proportional representation is calculated and applying it to the MPs already in Parliament.

The one Green seat represents almost 580,000 votes.  166 Conservative seats represent 5.8 million votes.  So while each Conservative MP represents just over 35,000 voters, Elizabeth May represents 580,000.

Therefore one Green is worth 16 Conservatives.

By similar logic,

• One Green is worth 13 New Democrats (each NDP MP represents almost 44,000 voters)
• One Green is worth 7 Liberals (each Liberal MP represents about 82,000 voters)
• One Green is worth 2 1/2 Bloc MPs (each Bloc MP represents about 222,000 voters)

This election, incidentally, also showed with clarity the fact that people vote overwhelmingly for parties, not individuals, with seats going to people who are unknown in their riding and don’t even speak the local language.

The need for electoral reform has never been more obvious.