On a tangent, am I correct that in parliamentary systems it's usual to have proportional representation?
The two are independent.
We don't have proportional rep in Canada, although there has been some advocacy for making some changes in our constitution to add in prop. rep.
Our federal system is like yours - a combination of rep by pop (our House of Commons which parallels your House of Reps) and rep by region (our Senate). What's different is that our HoC is more powerful, while your Senate is.
What I don't get is the caucus system of selecting a candidate. I know how it operates, but it strikes me that it violates the principle of the secret ballot, making voters more susceptible to peer pressure etc.
I think our systems are probably equally dysfunctional, just in a different way.
