OTTAWA – The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear an appeal challenging the constitutionality of Canada’s first-past-the-post electoral system.
The system, set out in the Canada Elections Act, sees the candidate who receives the most votes in a given riding become the member of Parliament.
Fair Voting BC and the Springtide Collective for Democratic Society argued in court that the first-past-the-post system violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ guarantee of effective representation.
The groups also said the system leads to the under-representation of women and other groups in Parliament, breaching the Charter’s equality rights provision.
The Ontario Superior Court dismissed the challenge in 2023, saying that while a proportional representation system would be a fair alternative to the current approach, it is not required by the Constitution.
The province’s Court of Appeal also rejected the groups’ key arguments.
