Hon. M. Dion:
I heard on the radio today that you were touring western Canada, trying to find out why westerners do not vote Liberal.
As a matter of fact, westerners do vote Liberal. Your party consistently receives 25 to 35 percent of the vote in western Canada. The reason that this is not reflected in seats is our winner-take-all, first-past-the-post voting system.
A more proportional system would result in more Liberal seats in the west, which would mean that your party would be better in tune with western concerns. This would result in still more Liberal support in the west. In addition, western Liberal supporters would be encouraged to vote for your party because they would know that there was a reasonable chance of actually electing Liberal members.
For more information on proportional voting systems, please check out www.FairVoteCanada.org.
Sincerely,
Wayne Smith