{"id":267197,"date":"2019-05-02T10:32:32","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T14:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/issues\/elections-take-long-not-fair\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T22:31:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T02:31:10","slug":"elections-take-long-not-fair","status":"publish","type":"issues","link":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2019\/05\/elections-take-long-not-fair\/","title":{"rendered":"By-elections take too long. It\u2019s not fair"},"content":{"rendered":"

A by-election<\/a> was held recently in the British constituency of Newport West. The vote came on April 4, just 46 days after the death of the former MP, Paul Flynn.<\/p>\n

By comparison, the Canadian federal riding of Nanaimo-Ladysmith, which became vacant when MP Sheila Malcolmson resigned on January 2, will have gone without representation for 123 days when a by-election is finally held <\/a>on May 6.<\/p>\n

Neither by-election was a surprise. Flynn announced last October<\/a> that he would step down for health reasons. The same month, Malcolmson announced that she would resign<\/a> if nominated as the NDP candidate for a by-election to the British Columbia legislature. She won the nomination in December, making her resignation largely a formality.<\/p>\n

So, if both vacancies were anticipated, why has the Canadian by-election taken three times longer to happen?<\/p>\n

A persistent problem<\/strong><\/p>\n

By-elections occur when parliamentary seats become vacant between general elections. While constituency offices can continue helping residents access government services, citizens in the affected communities have no voice in legislative debates and votes, and no local representative to call on when they want to be heard. When no party has a legislative majority, such vacancies can even determine how long a government stays in office. Although by-elections cost money, quickly filling each vacancy is essential to ensure effective democratic representation for citizens.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the Samara Centre for Democracy compared the duration of parliamentary vacancies in Canada and the UK. The research was prompted by allegations<\/a> that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had delayed the by-election in Burnaby South to hinder NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh\u2019s efforts to become an MP. The seat became vacant in September 2018, when Kennedy Stewart resigned to run for mayor of Vancouver. We wanted to see if the 164 days it took to fill that vacancy was a typical delay, and to examine how Canada\u2019s by-election system performs when measured against that of a comparable jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

We found that the Newport West, Nanaimo-Ladysmith and Burnaby South by-elections are consistent with the trends in the two countries since 1997: while the UK fills parliamentary vacancies in 53 days on average, Canada takes a staggering 151 days. So while there was no sign of an unusual degree of political interference in timing the Burnaby South by-election, Canada clearly has a problem holding by-elections in a reasonable time.<\/p>\n

Tables 1 and 2 explore these trends. Assuming no more MPs resign between now and October, Canada will have had 91 parliamentary vacancies between the 1997 and 2019 elections. Of these, 73 led to by-elections, while the government let the rest of the seats sit vacant until the next general election. The average duration of these vacancies was somewhat higher during the Harper government from 2006 to 2015, but both Liberal and Conservative governments showed enormous variations in how quickly vacancies were filled.<\/p>\n

In contrast, the UK filled its vacancies quickly and consistently. Just 4 of the 75 vacancies were left unfilled until the next election, and none took longer than 147 days to fill. In other words, the very longest British vacancy was still shorter than the average<\/em> Canadian vacancy.<\/p>\n