Law Commons^™

Voter Equality & Other Canadian Values: Finding The Right Balance, Sujit Choudhry, Matthew Mendelsohn

Sujit Choudhry

Representation by population (rep-by-pop) was one of the principal forces behind the creation of Canada and is a key pillar of democracy. The principle that all votes have equal weight reflects the democratic norm that all citizens should have an equal say in who will be elected, who will raise issues in Parliament and who will have the right to use the legitimate power of the state to make decisions on our behalf. Although some deviations from the norm of voter equality are acceptable, they should be grounded in principles that are widely accepted and viewed as legitimate. Canada’s federal …