In the wake of the Brexit referendum, this week’s episode tackles a Canadian issue that might soon trigger a referendum of its own: electoral reform.

Harvard University’s Pippa Norris is one of the world’s leading experts on electoral systems. She is currently the director of the Electoral Integrity Project. This $6 million-dollar initiative involves thousands of researchers who are examining why elections around the world work and why they fail. Norris and the project team have also been able to make observations about the link between specific types of voting systems and the degree of integrity associated with them. For example, proportional representation systems tend to be linked to higher levels of electoral integrity.

The inner workings of government
Keep track of who’s doing what to get federal policy made. In The Functionary.
The Functionary
Our newsletter about the public service. Nominated for a Digital Publishing Award.

Norris recently delivered the Cadario Lecture at the University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy and Governance, after which she shared her views on Canada’s electoral reform debate in a live on-stage interview with Jennifer Ditchburn, Policy Options editor-in-chief.

Download for free. New episodes every second Tuesday.

The Policy Options Special Feature on electoral reform https://bit.ly/29gvNXE

Photo: Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press

Download for free. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP.