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Congrats to the Tories, NDP. Is Tory Majority "Undemocratic"?

by David Doorey May 3, 2011
written by David Doorey May 3, 2011

Wow. That was quite an election. The Tories got a majority, moving from 143 to 167 seats (155 is necessary to get a majority), even though the percentage of people who voted for them barely moved (from 37.6% in 2008 to 39.6% yesterday). That’s due to the way votes translate into seats under our system.
The NDP received only 18.2% of the votes in 2008, but over 30.6 percent of voters chose the NDP in 2011. That translated in an increase in seats from 37 (2008) to 102 this time! The Liberals, well, their percentage of the vote dropped from 26.2% in 2008 to just 18.9% this time, leaving them with only 34 seats (down from 77). So, the mice did rise up, putting the NDP in the position of Official Opposition for the first time ever.  Congratulations to my friend from the U. of Toronto Masters of Industrial Relations program, Matt Kellway, for winning the Toronto-Beaches riding for the NDP.
I’ll add a labour law point, since this is a labour law blog.
Note that only about 24% of Canadians actually voted Tory in this election, since just about 61% of eligible voters cast ballots (of which 39.6% voted Tory).   Yet that is enough for a majority government in our system.  The 71% of the population that did not vote Tory now must live with whatever policies and laws that government passes.
Consider now how our labour legislation determines whether workers have access to collective bargaining in Canada.  A majority of workers must select unionization in order for those workers to have a right to collective bargaining.  So if 55% of workers vote to unionize, and 45% vote not to, the union wins the right and legal obligation to represent all of the workers, even the 45% who did not want to be represented by the union.  Keep in mind too, that the voter turnout in a union certification vote is regularly 100% or close to it (unlike political elections).
People who are against collective bargaining often say to me (and the media) that it is extremely “undemocratic” to have a system in which the minority of workers who did not support collective bargaining are nevertheless required to abide by the will of the majority.   But I thought that that was exactly how a “democracy” works, at least the version of it we aspire to in Canada, isn’t it?  
Unions might be happy doing away with the majority requirement in favour of a system where any worker who wants collective bargaining gets it.  Our requirement for majority support is a very unusual model by international standards.  But I suspect employers (and people who don’t like unions) prefer the majority requirement.  But if you want a system based on “majority rules”, isn’t it hypocritical to then complain when the majority rules?
What do you think?   Is it “undemocratic” for a union elected by a majority of workers to bargain a collective agreement that applies to all workers, even those that did not vote for the union?
If so, does that mean that allowing a majority government to be formed with less than 25% support of Canadians is equally, or even more undemocratic?

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David Doorey

Professor Doorey is an Associate Professor of Work Law and Industrial Relations at York University. He is Academic Director of Osgoode Hall Law School’s executive LLM Program in Labour and Employment Law and a Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program. Professor Doorey is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School (LL.B., Ph.D), London School of Economics (LLM Labour Law), and the University of Toronto (B.A., M.I.R.).

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Off to Vancouver folks. Please be sunny.

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Speaking of middle aged guys who talk about Labour Law, I’m returning to my old stopping grounds in beautiful Vancouver later this month!

Thanks to @AllardLaw & @SFU_LBST for the invitation.

Hope to see you there, or join on-line:

https://www.sfu.ca/labour/community/news-events/news-2023/mapping-the-future-of-canadian-labour-law-lecture-by-dr--david-d.html

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thelawofwork David J. Doorey🇨🇦 @TheLawofWork@mas.to @thelawofwork ·
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Pitching @Uber as a ‘green’ company is some next level shit.

Uber Canada @Uber_Canada

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thelawofwork David J. Doorey🇨🇦 @TheLawofWork@mas.to @thelawofwork ·
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For me, this simple little case brings into focus the most important issues for future of Canadian labour law.

What does it mean to say workers have freedom to associate when they can be fired for associating?

Should law protect nonunion workers’ right to strike? How so? …

David J. Doorey🇨🇦 @TheLawofWork@mas.to @TheLawofWork

Was reading a decision again in which a group of daycare workers selected a spokesperson to raise employment related concerns with boss.

She was fired.

Workers struck in solidarity. They too were fired.

Did you know that no Canadian law protects these workers from dismissal?

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