An unprecedented exercise in mass public consultation on electoral reform, the 2016 MyDemocracy.ca survey promised to collect Canadians’ values regarding the electoral system to inform the campaign promise to change the first-past-the-post system.
Problems and Purpose
The survey, unprecedented for Canadian politics in both scale and nature, was launched as part of the Liberal campaign promise of electoral reform, amid notable unpopularity of the existing electoral system [1]. The MyDemocracy.ca survey was commissioned by the Canadian Federal Government (in Partnership with Vox Pops Labs) with the stated aim of gathering data on the democratic values and potential paths for electoral reform from Canadian citizens [2]. Vox Pop Labs Inc. is a Canadian data science and civic technology company known for creating voting advice tools that have been critiqued as “push polling” or biased polling favouring the Liberals [3]. The company is in good standing with many news organizations making it a lucrative choice for media attention. The promise of electoral reform was a significant political draw to the Liberal party as many citizens felt that their votes did not matter in a FPTP system.
Background History and Context
Electoral reform had become a popular topic in Canadian politics, with critics claiming that the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system was not representative of the voters wishes and consequently discouraged participation in the democratic process [4]. First-past-the-post is a “winner takes all” electoral system that does not require a party to get the majority of votes, just more than the other parties [5]. For example, a candidate could get 40% of the vote and win if the rest of the votes are split between the remaining candidates. In 2015 a study by the Broadbent Institute found that of 2,986 Canadians surveyed, only 22% were decidedly in favour of maintaining FPTP [6]. The Liberal Party of Canada campaigned strongly on Electoral Reform stating: “We are committed to ensuring that 2015 will be the last federal election conducted under the first-past-the-post voting system.”[7]The promise of electoral reform was a significant draw to the party but was not a consistent stance over multiple election cycles. “When the Liberals were in third place in the polls, they wanted reform.”[8] The system benefitted them as they did not need the popular vote to win a majority government, but when their polling was low the promise of reform boosted their support. Following the election, the Liberal government announced a multi-stage public consultation process for addressing electoral reform, including a special committee, town halls, and the MyDemocracy.ca survey [9].
Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities
The Department of Democratic Institutions, after forming the Special Committee on Electoral Reform to review the consultation process, contracted Canadian social research firm “Vox Pop Labs” to design and administer the survey. The contract cost approximately $2 million dollars CAD and tasked the firm with both developing and hosting the survey on their website, all with oversight from the Government of Canada [10].
Participant Recruitment and Selection
Participation in the survey was open to all Canadian residents over the age of 15, although the results of anyone under 18 were not considered. Invitations to participate in the survey were mailed to “every household in Canada.”[11] Between December 5, 2016, and January 13, 2017, 383,074 participants completed the survey. Women and rural residents were significantly underrepresented in the data [12].
Methods and Tools Used
The MyDemocracy.ca survey was delivered online through the Vox Pops Labs hosted website. Participants were contacted through mail with some online advertising used. However, most of the outreach relied on the “shareability” of survey results via social media [13]. The site used IP tracking to ensure participants that took the survey multiple times did not have their subsequent answers in the data pool [14]. Some participants without internet access were allowed to participate via telephone. The participants were sorted based on their answers into categories at the end of the survey similar to a personality test.
What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation
Vox Pop Labs formulated a series of 70 questions, ranging from multiple choice, ranking, and Likert-scale. Using an initial sample base of 4,273 Canadians, five personality archetypes (Guardians, Pragmatists, Challengers, Cooperators, Innovators) were assigned to participants based on the tensions between eight “values” (Accountability, Ballot Detail, Equality, Leadership, Party Discipline, Party Focus, Online Voting, and Mandatory Voting) measured by their answers, from which they could draw conclusions about the democratic values and wishes of Canadians [15]. The archetypes were intended to give Canadians an entry point into democratic principles and give analysts a narrative to develop results around [16]. Democratic values based questions were specifically requested by the Liberal Government instead of electoral system based questions to provide themes of what Canadians want, presuming they do not know the intricacies of electoral systems. The plan for how these themes would be mapped was ultimately unclear to the public as Maryam Monsef, the MP responsible for electoral reform, provided conflicting information [17]. Monsef had public disagreements with the wider committee on electoral reform which made the direction of the survey data unclear.
Influence, Outcomes, and Effects
Criticism was loud and decisive. Participants across the political spectrum deemed the survey vague, unclear, and biased. Many critics had not believed the Liberal Government was invested in electoral reform in the first place, “FPTP had benefited the Liberals, and given them a majority government with only 40% of the popular vote. What incentive did they have to switch to a system that would give them less seats?”[18]. The survey was ridiculed for being leading and confusing, being described by critics as: "a dating website designed by Fidel Castro."[19]. The survey questions were also criticized for omitting any direct mention of alternate electoral systems (Ranked Choice, Mixed Member/Party List, Proportional Representation, etc.) opting instead for “values” and “preferences” based questions to seemingly obscure the results [20]. The survey results were published with key findings stated as: Canadians are generally satisfied with Canada’s democracy, they value features often associated with different electoral systems, they oppose mandatory voting [etc][21]. Notably the results did not include an interpretation of the results towards a specific reform. Insofar as it was intended to (a) accurately reflect the opinions of Canadians and (b) obtain citizen input to implement popularly mandated electoral reform, the survey was a failure. Many non-partisan organizations, including Fair Vote Canada, expressed their dissatisfaction with the formulation and results of the survey and continued to rally for electoral reform in its wake [22]. In a letter, Trudeau reported that there was no consensus found through the consultation process on the reform [23]. MP Monsef reiterated this claim in the House of Commons. She claimed the committee tasked with reform “did not complete the hard work we expected them to.”[24]. Monsef later apologized for her criticisms of the committee after media and political pressure. Protests and a petition made by NDP politician Nathan Cullen quickly gained traction. Days of protests and hundreds of thousands of signatures did little to reverse the final decision. Electoral reform was abandoned by the Canadian Government and no other surveys on the matter were attempted. Apathy towards the Canadian Electoral system continued. As of November 2025 the issue has not been revisited.
Analysis and Lessons Learned
The MyDemocracy.ca survey is widely considered an example of failed public engagement [25]. It failed in its stated goal of informing electoral reform–no reform took place–and it failed in engagement with the public. Participants expected to give their straightforward opinion on what voting system Canada should have and were instead met with a confusing personality test. While the online system itself was fairly accessible, the phrasing of the questions was not. The impressive amount of data collected was undermined by the survey design [26]. This case is a lesson in less being more. If Canadians were simply asked “which voting system would you prefer?” the survey would have better addressed its stated mandate. The result of this process lends itself to a partisan explanation as it was in the Liberals best interest to keep the FPTP system [27]. Fair Vote Canada gave a scathing critique, “They had to be aware that 14 years of national polling showed Canadians support the principle of proportionality. (...) The reason [the survey was doomed] is obvious: It would have made even clearer – if that is possible – a consensus the Liberals were determined to pretend did not exist.”[28]. Election reform was popular among voters that became distrustful of the political process after various Conservative government failures. Promising reform greatly benefited Trudeau, however after winning the election (due to FPTP) he claimed that because his government was popular, electoral reform was less of a priority to Canadians [29]. This claim came before the MyDemocracy.ca survey seeding distrust in the promise early. “The Liberal talking points on electoral reform: a collection that belongs in an alternative facts class of its own. – National affairs writer Chantal Hebert.”[30]. The survey being so nonsensical furthered the critique that the Liberal Government was not invested in accurate results on electoral reform and were simply trying to placate the public.
See Also
References
[1] Liberal Party of Canada. “A New Plan For A Strong Middle Class.” October 5, 2015.
[2] Vox Pop Labs Inc. “MyDemocracy.ca — Online Digital Consultation and Engagement Platform.” Education and awareness. Government of Canada, January 30, 2017.
[3] Carlson, Kathryn. “CBC’s Vote Compass Accused of Bias | National Post.” News. National Post, 2011. https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/cbcs-vote-compass-accused-of-bias.
[4] Longo, Justin. “The evolution of citizen and stakeholder engagement in Canada, from Spicer to #Hashtags.” Canadian Public Administration 60, no. 4 (2017): 517–37. 126419546. https://doi.org/10.1111/capa.12229.
[5] “What Is First Past the Post?” Fair Vote Canada, n.d. Accessed November 28, 2025. https://www.fairvote.ca/what-is-first-past-the-post/.
[6] “Canadian Electoral Reform: Public Opinion on Possible Alternatives.” Broadbent Institute, December 21, 2015. https://broadbentinstitute.ca/research/electoral-reform-public-opinion-2015/.
[7] Liberal Party of Canada. “A New Plan For A Strong Middle Class.”
[8] Dias, Megan. “Electoral Reform in Canada: Lessons Learned.” Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions. UBC, May 25, 2017. p.18
[9] Longo, “The evolution of citizen and stakeholder engagement in Canada” 517–37
[10] Vox Pop Labs Inc. “MyDemocracy.ca”
[11] Vox Pop Labs Inc. “MyDemocracy.ca”
[12] Dias, Megan. “Electoral Reform in Canada: Lessons Learned.” Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions. UBC, May 25, 2017.
[13] Proudfoot, Shannon. “The Making of MyDemocracy.ca, the Liberals’ Survey.” Macleans.ca, December 6, 2016.
[14] Proudfoot, Shannon. “The Making of MyDemocracy.ca, the Liberals’ Survey.”
[15] Proudfoot, Shannon. “The Making of MyDemocracy.ca”
[16] Proudfoot, Shannon. “The Making of MyDemocracy.ca”
[17] Stewart, Michael. “Liberals, Monsef Make a Mockery of MPs and Canadians Who Worked for Electoral Reform.” Rabble.Ca, December 1, 2016. https://rabble.ca/politics/canadian-politics/liberals-monsef-make-mockery-mps-and-canadians-who-worked-ele/.
[18] Dias, Megan. “Electoral Reform in Canada: Lessons Learned.” Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions. UBC, May 25, 2017. p.18
[19] BBC News. “Canada Unimpressed with Trudeau Government’s #mydemocracy Survey.” December 6, 2016. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38217319.
[20] BBC News. “Canada Unimpressed with Trudeau Government’s #mydemocracy Survey.”
[21] Vox Pop Labs Inc. “MyDemocracy.ca”
[22] Fair Vote Canada. “MYTHBUSTER: Was There ‘No Consensus’?” March 6, 2017. https://www.fairvote.ca/06/03/2017/mythbuster-was-there-no-consensus/.
[23] Dias, “Electoral Reform in Canada: Lessons Learned.”Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions. UBC, May 25, 2017
[24] Stewart, Michael. “Liberals, Monsef Make a Mockery of MPs and Canadians Who Worked for Electoral Reform.” 2016.
[25] Longo, “The evolution of citizen and stakeholder engagement in Canada” 517–37.
[26] Dias, “Electoral Reform in Canada: Lessons Learned.”
[27] Dias, “Electoral Reform in Canada: Lessons Learned.”
[28] Fair Vote Canada. “MYTHBUSTER: Was There ‘No Consensus’?” 2017.
[29] BBC News. “Canada Unimpressed with Trudeau Government’s #mydemocracy Survey.” 2016.
[30] Fair Vote Canada. “MYTHBUSTER: Was There ‘No Consensus’?” 2017.
External Links
MyDemocracy.ca - Vox Pop Labs Inc. Report https://www.canada.ca/en/democratic-institutions/services/reports/mydemocracyca-online-digital-consultation-engagement-platform.html
