True democracy with better elections
Most can agree that no one deserves to win an election without a majority of votes.
First past the post only works with two parties. Such is not the case in Canada. Former “all or nothing” efforts to improve our democracy have failed, mostly due to their complexity. A simple switch to a ranked ballot system will solve this problem.
While not yielding perfect proportional representation, it is an excellent first step in that direction.
Unfortunately, the major parties, who benefit from this flawed and antiquated system, continue to resist any change.
All power in these parties lies with the leader, and this power is enforced by the party whip. Anyone who does not obey runs the risk of not having their nomination papers signed for the next election.
There is no possibility of grassroots democracy as long as enforced party discipline dictates how we run our governments.
We will only make true progress in our so-called democracy when the office of the party whip is abolished, a ranked voting system is implemented and autonomy is restored to local constituencies.
Graeme Gardiner
Sidney
Urban-rural divide in this election
The Comment page is always interesting. On Oct. 23, we have someone saying “a clear majority” did not vote for the NDP.
Facts are helpful. John Rustad won the Nechako Lakes seat with 7,773 votes. David Eby won the Vancouver-Point Grey seat with 11,979 votes, which is more than the total votes in Nechako Lakes.
The final outcome of the election is not clear yet, because it is not confirmed that any party has “a clear majority” of seats.
The popular vote went 44.59% for the NDP and 43.57% for the Conservatives.
The only thing clear to me is that there is a huge difference between rural and urban voters, and the municipalities south of the Fraser River reflect their agricultural, “rural” roots. I think people have voted their opinions and their emotions, not “common sense.”
Heather Phillips
Sooke
Furstenau is a reasonable voice
Regarding the person who thinks it’s “time for Sonia Furstenau to move on”:
Furstenau being the only reasonable voice among the party leaders, in this political debacle, her experience can guide the two Greens to “move forward” and on to a positive, cooperative, constructive endeavour.
John Vanden Heuvel
Victoria
Furstenau made the wrong riding choice
Sonia Furstenau should have run in Adam Olsen’s old riding, Saanich North and the Islands. That’s close enough to Victoria to be with her family and still be an MLA.
Running in Victoria-Beacon Hill made no sense whatsoever, and makes me believe that she doesn’t really know how she was able to win in Cowichan.
People in Cowichan voted for her because she led the protest of the Shawnigan Lake contaminated-soil dump, and I’m talking about some people who would never vote Green or even NDP otherwise.
The good people of Victoria-Beacon Hill either know nothing of this nor presumably did they care enough about it to turf an NDP cabinet minister in favour of her.
April J. Gibson
Duncan
Let them earn it on their own
The B.C. election is over and we have learned many new things, including that the majority of people have had their fill of the socialist party of B.C. — the NDP.
However, NDP Leader David Eby wants to be propped up by two members of the almost extinct Greens, so he can continue to mess up this province. Nothing makes less sense.
Two virtually unknown members may choose to keep this government functioning in a so-called “majority” government, by agreeing to support them in the legislature.
If Eby wants political power, let him and his cronies earn it! Go back to the people and get elected honestly, not the cowardly method he has in mind. Half or more of the voters this province feel exactly the same.
Eby should earn the position, not try to sneak in the back door.
When I was a pain in the butt kid, my mother used to say “you need a good dressing down.” Eby got a good dressing down, and deserved it. Now, with his tail between his legs, he’s trying to sneak back up on his throne and continue to spread his socialist propaganda and babble to us for another four years.
Don’t let it happen, Greens. You got shafted the last time you got into bed with these people and you’ll get it again.
The Greens should think of their future. If they continue to be the Band-Aid Party, they will never be a real political party in Canada.
Jim Laing
Saanich
Climate change is not up for debate
Re: “Conservatives don’t deny climate change,” letter, Oct. 22.
The dismissal of the prominent role of human activities in climate change is not supported by the experts in the scientific community. The only “science-denying hysteria” is from people who refuse to see what is right in front of their eyes.
At 49.6 degrees Celsius, the scorching heat in Lytton during the “heat dome” of 2021 set a Canadian temperature record.
Since 2015, “World Weather Attribution,” United Kingdom, has done 50 scientific studies to assess the role of climate change in extreme weather events around the world.
In 2021, scientists from Canada, the United States and Europe collaborated to study the extreme heat wave in the Pacific Northwest, including Lytton, “to assess to what extent human-induced climate change made this heatwave hotter and more likely.”
They concluded that the event would have been “virtually impossible without human-caused climate change.”
B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad discounted the major role of humans in climate change when he addressed the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade: “Scientists can debate that and scientists are debating that.”
But climate experts no longer consider it up for debate. A 2021 Cornell University survey of 88,125 climate-related studies found that more than 99.9 per cent of peer-reviewed scientific papers agreed climate change is primarily caused by human activity.
Unfortunately, if a government repeatedly tells a big enough lie to the public about the real causes of climate change, their citizens will pay the ultimate price in lives lost and futures decimated.
Doreen Marion Gee
Victoria
Our diet includes provincial politics
With ballots still to be counted on the table, the final tally will bring B.C. either the NDP, or the Conservatives. The Green tinge on the political plate will not just be a garnish, but an essential part of the entree.
We have already sat through many sittings where the meal was generally with the colours of orange and green. Very much like the carrot the NDP will dangle to have the Greens top up their bowl of plenty for the next four years. David Eby is hoping he can cook up a deal, and continue to relish in the Legislative Dining Room.
What the B.C. Conservatives are dishing out comes from a much larger buffet in Ottawa, and it looks like Canadians are federally switching back to a previous diet of eight years ago.
Don’t we all remember the indigestion, or are Canadians just tired of tasting the present offering we’ve been having?
It is highly doubtful the Greens will join John Rustad’s Conservatives with the fare they are serving, as the colours of blue and green together are rarely palatable.
Do British Columbians have the stomach for another election?
Please pass the antacids.
Mur Meadows
Victoria
Careful which system we use for voting
I’m confused by the letters complaining about the B.C. election results. Some of these letters claim that the results demonstrate the need to switch to some sort of proportional representation system.
Pre-election polls were predicting a tight race. Whether the result of our first past the post electoral system, or some sort of proportional representation system, the results would have been nearly identical.
Why are people complaining? This is what they wanted, isn’t it?
We would see these sorts of results more often under PR. I won’t venture an opinion here on whether that is a good thing or a bad thing.
My second observation is that many of these writers were proposing the single transferable vote as the system to adopt. This style was already rejected twice in provincial referendums. Why? Because many people found it confusing, including me.
Google tells me this is by far the least popular form of PR in the world. It’s used in only four jurisdictions.
The next most popular is the the mixed-member system used in seven jurisdictions.
The most popular form by far is the party-list which is used in over 80 countries.
I’m not an authority on any of these systems, but, based on sheer numbers alone, I would suggest that the single transferable vote is not the system to adopt if B.C. were to switch to some form of proportional representation.
Mike Laplante
Saanich
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