Parliamentary Representation and the Amalgam Method

Balinski, M.L. & Young, H.P. (1981). Parliamentary Representation and the Amalgam Method. IIASA Collaborative Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: CP-81-036

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Abstract

This paper explains in direct operational terms the method presently established by law to apportion the seats of the Canadian Parliament among the provinces, the so-called "amalgam" method.

Canadian political history and common sense suggest fundamental principles of equity that should apply to any method of apportioning representation in the parliament. Unfortunately the amalgam method satisfies none of these principles. There is exactly one method which does satisfy all of them: it is much simpler than the amalgam method, and is basically the one originally embodied in the British North America Act of 1867.

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