Victoria NDP MP Murray Rankin has some comforting advice for anyone puzzling over that complex second question on the referendum ballot.
Don’t worry about it. Rely on people of good faith to work out the details.
He’s encouraging people to vote yes on the first question, about changing to proportional representation. But the second one — a multiple-choice ballot of three options to be filled out preferentially — needn’t require hours of studying esoteric differences in voting systems.
In an interview Tuesday during an appearance with federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, Rankin said: “It’s a cop-out to say: ‘I don’t have time to understand this issue.’”
“It is not that complicated.”
He cited a similar argument made by B.C. Green Leader Andrew Weaver, whose party, along with the provincial NDP, is campaigning hard for a yes vote.
The advice is partly a strategic response to the widespread — and completely accurate — perception that proportional representation is a much more complicated system than the current first-past-the-post system.
Complications or confusion could lead to two results. A voter might vote no on the first question to avoid dealing with the second question, or simply not vote at all.
So the Yes camp is keen to minimize the complexity.
Rankin said: “We don’t have to go into the intricacies of the second question. We can simply say we think it’s time to make a change and go to some sort of proportional representation system and let others, frankly, determine the best one to meet B.C.’s unique needs.”
“I’ve been encouraging people to certainly look hard at the first question, the existential either-or question, and to frankly not worry so much about which model is chosen.
“We don’t have all the facts on that, nor do we need all the facts on that to make a decision.”
He said it’s not a problem to have some things left unresolved, to let experts and other non-partisan people of good faith figure out what’s best for B.C.
Singh also urged a yes vote on the first question, based on the federal experience two years ago, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau abandoned his campaign promise to pursue electoral reform.
Trudeau promised countless times that the 2015 election would be the last conducted under first-past-the-post. His government struck a committee to review the issue, but in February 2017, he ditched the idea.
“A clear preference for a new electoral system, let alone a consensus, has not emerged. Furthermore, without a clear preference or a clear question, a referendum would not be in Canada’s interest.”
Singh said Trudeau simply calculated “it’s not in my interest anymore,” so he called it off.
B.C. could be arriving at a similar conflicted place with the vote now underway, although it’s hard to imagine Premier John Horgan doing what Trudeau did.
Since most No voters likely won’t proceed to the second question about their preference, the turnout response to the second question will be much lower than the first. And a relatively even split among the three options could mean no clear consensus.
Elections B.C. has received 175,000 ballots (5.3 per cent) back as of Tuesday morning, with 18 days left before the vote is closed. It’s too soon to pass judgment on the turnout. But the return count needs to average about 81,000 ballots a day from now until Nov. 30 to get a 50 per cent turnout.
Rankin said it’s an open question at what point the turnout subtracts from the mandate the referendum is supposed to deliver.
But he said it’s ironic that the same question about illegitimacy crops up under the current system, when politicians such as Trudeau and Stephen Harper become prime minister with just 39 per cent of the vote.
B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson dwelled on the complexity issue during last week’s debate, and Horgan insisted: “The question is quite simple.”
Two months ago, Horgan urged Union of B.C. Municipalities delegates to join him and “take a leap of faith on change that works.”
That’s pretty much what Rankin is advising anyone who asks, as well.
