On this site three years ago, I argued that Canadian Conservatives were losing not because of poor strategic decisions or tactical execution but because the structural conditions of our political system worked against us. Liberal vote efficiency, progressive strategic voting, and weaker partisan identification all tilt the field. They are baked into the system. If we’re honest, we’d have to admit that we only win when factors out of our control align in our favour (e.g., NDP vote share). If the problems are structural, then the solutions must be as well.
This will require political imagination. I propose three reforms that, although unconventional, could reshape the playing field to reward broad-based conservatism rather than penalize it: proportional representation (PR); mandatory voting; and a coalition-based approach in Quebec.
Proportional representation
First-past-the-post rewards geographic efficiency, not total support. We cannot win by galvanizing centre-right voters. There simply aren’t enough Conservative voters in the right places. In 2021 and 2019, Conservatives won the popular vote but decisively lost the seat count. PR would align votes with seats, creating fairer outcomes and allowing the CPC to focus on building national support rather than stitching together a fragile regional patchwork. At a stroke, it would wipe out the Liberal vote efficiency advantage and eliminate a significant incentive for progressive Canadians to vote strategically.
Conservative critics typically argue that the combined votes of progressive parties would ensure Liberal-led coalition governments. But that’s been the reality of the last 10 years of first-past-the-post. It ignores the success of Stephen Harper’s years leading a minority government. Under PR, Conservatives would have won five of the last six elections rather than three.
PR certainly hasn’t hurt conservative parties elsewhere. Across Europe’s PR democracies, conservatives govern many countries, including the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Croatia, and Portugal. In several others, they’re in the coalition. PR clearly hasn’t stopped the centre-right from winning power.
I ask, as an aside, why conservatives—champions of competition and free enterprise—are content with a political duopoly? We trust free markets to deliver better outcomes in business, labour, and innovation. We believe that competition sharpens ideas, rewards performance, and serves the public interest. Yet when it comes to politics, we accept a broken electoral system that stifles competition and entrenches two-party dominance.
In our country, hundreds of thousands of Conservative votes effectively don’t count. Under PR, urban Conservatives, fiscal hawks, Western populists, Quebec nationalists, social conservatives, and libertarians would all have a chance of being in government, not forced into an uneasy coalition in a single party.
Mandatory voting
Low-turnout elections favour parties with strong partisan brands—chiefly, the Liberals. As practiced in Australia, mandatory voting would enfranchise underrepresented groups, many of whom hold small-c conservative views. One of the strongest voter segments for the Conservatives is what we in 2021 called “Left Behind” Canadians. Poor, working, non-urban, and less well-educated than other groups, they have not enjoyed Canada’s growth and prosperity of the past 25 years. As a result, they are hostile to the Liberals but also lack general political engagement and vote in lower numbers. Moreover, it is a myth that Conservatives turn out in higher numbers than other parties. If anything, it’s slightly lower. Conservatives have jobs, children, businesses—all things that interfere with and take priority over voting. In the past three elections, the Conservative vote underperformed turnout predictions.
A coalition model for Quebec
The CPC’s persistent underperformance in Quebec isn’t just a language problem—it’s a cultural and structural one. The party is seen as foreign, even hostile, to Quebec political traditions. Worse, the more it bends to win Quebec, the more it risks alienating other parts of the country.
There’s another way. What if the Conservative Party stepped aside in Quebec and made space for a new federalist, centre-right Quebecois party—one that understands the province’s political language and speaks it fluently? In return, the two parties would form a standing coalition agreement in Parliament, running separately but governing together.
It’s not unprecedented. Germany’s Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union have operated under a similar model for decades. So have the U.K. Conservatives and Ulster Unionists.
This would allow Quebec Conservatives to speak as Quebecers, not as emissaries from the Rest of Canada. It would create space for growth without compromise.
None of these ideas are easy. All would require courage, patience, and political creativity. But they are necessary. If Conservatives want to win not just the next election but the next generation, we need to stop playing a game that is rigged against us and start fixing the rules. Otherwise, we will continue to fall short, no matter how well we play.
