How could a Court ruling change the voting system? Doesn’t that have to be a political decision?

A:

The Court has the power to rule that any law enacted by any order of government in Canada is in contravention to the Canadian Constitution, and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms contained within it. Our case is driven by a belief that Canadian’s right to vote, and equal treatment before the law is contravened by a voting system where most Canadians vote for candidates that do not win, and parties that are not a part of the government.

It would be unlikely that a court would change the voting system. Our hope is to have the court rule that the first-past-the-post voting system fails to honor these rights, and to order the government to propose a system where these rights are taken into account.


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Key Events in the Case:

  • We're currently awaiting the appeal decision (expected in spring 2025)
  • We presented our appeal in the Court of Appeal for Ontario in November 2024
  • We submitted our appeal factum in April 2024.
  • We filed our Notice of Appeal in December 2023.
  • Justice Ed Morgan issued his ruling in November 2023 and unfortunately dismissed our application.
  • The case was heard in September 2023 in the Ontario Superior Court.
  • We received the government's affidavits in fall 2022.
  • We served the government with our affidavit and evidence package in May 2021.
  • We filed the case with the Ontario Superior Court in October 2019.

How you can help

The main way you can help is to support the case financially. We are now asking for pledges totalling $60,000 to support us appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada, if they grant us leave to appeal in mid-2025.

What to expect

At each step, we set new pledge or donation goals based on our estimate of the costs for the next stage of the process, and invite our supporters to contribute towards that goal to ensure the case can continue to move forward. We don't ask for or collect funds until we're sure we're going to take the associated step.