New Brunswick Proportional Representation

The representational system in New Brunswick is a "winner take all" single member plurality system (known as SMP).

In the 2005 report on Legislative Democracy, the Committee recommended that the people of New Brunswick be given the option, in a binding referendum to be held during the 2007 election, of implementing a system of Proportional Representation.

We want the ruling government to implement the recommendation of its own committee and announce that it will hold a binding referendum during the announced election of 2007.


The Proportional Representation proposal says that each party should get the percentage of seats in the Legislature that they received in the election. The 1987 election exemplifies the problems inherent in our current system as the Liberal Party won all 58 seats but was only supported by 60\% of the voting population, leaving nearly half the province with no representation.

We, the people of New Brunswick, demand the same opportunity recently granted the people of British Columbia- the opportunity to vote for Proportional Representation in a binding referendum in 2007, yet one in which a simple majority (51\%) will enforce the will of the people.