A Look at a Minority Group under a Majoritarian Electoral system

The common theme of most of the articles this week was a comparison between proportional electoral systems and majoritarian electoral systems, especially in up and coming democracies. For the most part, the authors argued that proportional electoral systems tend to yield more favorable results in regards to minorities. In fact, Lijphart boasts some impressive data in his article “ Constitutional Choices for New Democracies” with respect to the representation of woman and the overall happiness of citizens in said government. So is it time for majoritarian electoral system theories to be put to rest and current government’s using these systems to retire in order to allow the proportional electoral systems of the future in? Perhaps, but perhaps not. Let’s take a look at a case in which a majoritarian electoral system was able to address a minority’s concerns appropriately.
This example includes a province just five minutes north of my hometown. Yes, you guessed it Quebec. Quebec has always had a very different and very distinct cultural identity which does not always mesh well with their English speaking brethren in Ottawa (see: Angry French Canadians). In 1970 things heated up and the Quebec Separatist group Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ) kidnapped the then minister of labor in Quebec Pierre Laporte (see: Angry French Canadians with Guns). After two referendums on independence and several years in power the separatists were unable to reach their goal of an independent Quebec. However, in the majoritarian system endorsed by Canada, the Québécois were able to win enough seats in the federal parliament to have a voice at the national level. And while they may have experienced setbacks in 2007 the separatist party has been able to push their agenda; which includes such things all government services must be provided in both French and English as well as making French and English both he official languages of Canada.
And while Professor King talked about the “manufactured majority” majoritarian electoral systems give us, is that any worse than a “manufactured voter will” which proportional voting systems present tous? As per “Arrow’s Impossibility Theorum” we can see that no voting system is perfect. It is my most humble opinion that in the end the only thing that matters when choosing a voting systems is whether most of the people most of the time believe it to be legitimate. As long as a country has that then said system will flourish.