Re: “Ford coasts to Ontario majority,” June 8.
We have watched the Ontario election with dismay for some, jubilation for others. The striking thing is how unfair the first-past-the-post voting method is.
The Progressive Conservatives got 40-plus per cent of the vote, the NDP got 34 per cent, the Liberals 19 per cent and the Greens five per cent. The seat count on Friday was PC 76; NDP 40; Liberals 7; and Greens 1. If they had voted under proportional representation, applying those percentages to the 124 seats in the Ontario legislature, their numbers would have been PC 50; NDP 42; Liberals 23; and Greens 6.
With such numbers, the PCs would have had a minority that would have fallen at the first vote, and the NDP with the Liberals and Greens could have formed a coalition and given the 59 per cent of Ontarians who voted for something other than the Conservatives a government much closer to what they really wanted.
Now we have a Doug Ford government that has a strong majority and can do pretty much just as it pleases. Does anyone still believe first-past-the-post is preferable?
Arlene Feke
Nanaimo
