How is it undemocratic? You vote for your MP, not the party.
this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2025
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The way whipped votes are standard in Canada means that in practice you are voting for a party.
That still doesn't make it undemocratic. If anything, whipped votes are the undemocratic part. Crossing the floor is a feature of our democracy, not a bug.
That's not how many understand it. I'm pretty sure my extended family have no idea. Especially given they come from a country with proportional representation.
Ignorance is no excuse.
Yeah this is the only part of the reaction that I’m not aligned with.
As you’ve mentioned the MP is elected as your representative, regardless of party, but a lot of people tend to vote with the understanding that their representative will tow the party line.
I expect my MP to have a brain in their heads who can make decisions that benefit their constituents. While i appreciate what a party can do for organization, if that party stops acting in the benefit of it's constituents then fuck that party. Let's be realistic, most Canadians are too smart for the kind of indoctrination that exists to the south of us. That guy crossed the floor because pp smol doesn't have the moral character, intelligence, experience, or vision to lead his party let alone Canada.
Agreed
To the best of my understanding, when an MP runs under the banner of a party, they're required by the party to vote in the same way as everyone else in that party unless otherwise specified (e.g. when we voted to recognize gay marriage). So when we vote on an MP, we don't care what the MP thinks because it has no bearing on how they vote in parliament. All that matters is what the party leader decides on.
No, they are not required to do that.
I guess I don't understand the system then.
Would you happen to know what it means when they say that the party allows a free vote?
The government of Prime Minister Paul Martin supported the bill but allowed a free vote by its backbench MPs in the House of Commons.
[source]
Usually the party leader will demand their MPs follow party lines, but there is no law/rule to do so. Breaking party lines is a quick way to ensure they will forever be a back bencher however.
It would be like throwing your boss under the bus in a group meeting. You may not get fired, but it’s career suicide.
Right, that's more or less how I understood it. I guess I didn't communicate it well.
In any case, given that the voters understand that this is what they're working with, the most sensible thing to do (and what everyone probably does) is to vote for MPs based on party position. Even if we wanted to vote based on their personal positions, there's rarely enough information to make that possible.
You are right that the way you laid it out in your previous comment is the way it is in practice. Almost all votes are whipped. Local representation (federally) is mostly in name only.