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The 2026 World Happiness Report is out, and the pattern is clear. Countries with proportional representation rank at the top. (media.piefed.ca)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/fairvote@lemmy.ca
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That's not a coincidence. These systems push governments to serve everyone, not just swing ridings.

It's time to make every vote count here too.

A graphic with a bright yellow and blue radial background and a cream coloured panel. The headline reads “The World’s Happiest Countries use Proportional Representation.” A ranked list shows Finland first, Iceland second, Denmark third, Costa Rica fourth, and Sweden fifth, each with a small flag. A note at the bottom says Canada dropped to 25th from 18th last year. The source is listed as the World Happiness Report 2026 from the University of Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre. A call to action reads “Learn more at fairvote.ca.”
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[–] 1 point 7 months ago (2 children)

A big thing missing from this post is the size of the countries and their population. Canada and the USA are huge, and better described as a collection of independent states than a single country. The current systems are a result of compromises done to keep the countries together, by giving regions with small populations a say. I'm not saying these compromises turned out well, but you need to acknowledge them to understand the current mess.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    Our voting system is effectively a hand-me-down from the UK (where it is likewise bad and contributing to a number of issues). Your comment is moreso about different levels of government, but whether municipal, provincial, or federal, they all use the same voting system, and they all could use proportional systems (yes, including municipal -- across the board the problem stems from single-member ridings causing distortions when they are used to populate larger chambers. STV maps very cleanly onto municipal politics by just eliminating wards and keeping the same top voted # of councillors).

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