Re: “Voting reform: Details, debate are missing,” comment, May 20.
Attorney General David Eby will shortly release details on the electoral-reform referendum question and process, six months before the mail-in ballot deadline, giving voters plenty of time for debate. The authors completely avoid the real issue — a first-past-the-post voting system that gives single parties 100 per cent of the power, with much less than 50 per cent voter support. Yet they complain about the 50 per cent approval threshold for the referendum?
All proportional-representation systems ensure voter preferences are reflected fairly in the legislature, unlike the current system, when in 2017 the Greens and Conservatives together won more than 20 per cent of the vote but elected only three per cent of MLAs. Under PR, collaboration among parties would also be required to form government. As former premier Christy Clark’s “clone speech” demonstrated, this creates a powerful incentive to see the value of other political perspectives.
The authors’ concern about voter participation in the fall referendum ignores another elephant in the room — sharp declines in election turnouts under our current system. PR ensures that every vote will count, which research shows will reduce voter disaffection and increase participation.
The claim that PR systems eliminate the direct election of local MLAs is nonsense. Any system considered in B.C. or elsewhere in Canada has always included this feature.
As a last resort, the authors raise the spectre of electing “extremists” to the legislature. Unlike these fearmongers, I trust the judgment and intelligence of voters in B.C.
When the referendum details are announced, stay calm and take the next six months to consider a fairer voting system that truly reflects voter preferences.
Gary Holman of Salt Spring Island served as MLA for Saanich North and the Islands, and is the former NDP Opposition critic for democratic reform.
