At a time when there is little in the news to make one feel better about the state of the world, every tiny drop of good news is worth celebrating. BC Attorney-General David Eby’s announcement last week of the electoral reform referendum question to be put to all us BC residents this fall gives me hope that at least one positive step forward may be made in the way in which we conduct our lives in BC.
We are being given the opportunity to vote to change our method of electing MLAs from the traditional First Past The Post (FPTP) method which we inherited from the British Empire, the former members of which constitute the majority of countries still using this system, and in which whoever gets the most votes wins, no matter how small the actual percentage of the popular vote the winning party receives. To replace it we have the opportunity to vote instead for a system of proportional representation (PR) in which the number of seats a party receives in the legislature closely reflects the actual proportion of the popular vote that the party received.
The referendum question will be in two parts that will first give us a choice between FPTP and PR and then invite us to rank our preferences of three PR systems. Both are clear and fair questions on which to base the referendum. For those referendum voters who do not wish to change the system from FPTP, they still have the opportunity for input into which type of PR they prefer, should PR prove to be the choice of the majority. And should PR prove to be the people’s choice at this fall’s referendum, after two elections using the PR system voters will be given the opportunity to vote again in a referendum to confirm whether or not to keep the system or return to FPTP. Can’t ask for fairer than that.
Apparently, the government’s decision regarding the referendum question came in response to a massive on-line consultation in which over 91,000 BC voters took part. Many of the points in David Eby’s announcement stem from that feedback. As I understand it, all the PR systems on the ballot deliver strong local representation, ensure no significant increase in the size of the legislature, no region of the province will have fewer MLAs than it currently has, no political party will be eligible to win a seat if they receive less than 5% of the overall vote in the province, no union or corporate money will be permitted to unfairly unbalance the funds available to competing parties, and Elections BC will be in charge of public education and financing. Each of the three PR systems on the ballot ensure that almost every voter will contribute to the election of an MLA.
For me, it will make a change from voting strategically for a candidate and party that is not my first choice in an attempt to avoid electing the one I want least. If PR wins the day, I can vote for the candidate and the party of my choice in the certainty that my vote will add to the totality of votes cast for the party of my choice, even if my preferred candidate does not win in my electoral district.
Of the three PR choices on offer, my preference is for the Mixed–Member Proportional system in which I get to vote both for the candidate of my choice and for the party of my choice, a combination of FPTP and PR. It’s a simple system that has been in use in Germany since 1957 and was adopted for the Scottish parliament in 1999. It sure would improve the relevance of our elections if it is adopted in BC.
If the variety of PR systems seem confusing to you, just Google DMP, MMP, or Rural-Urban PR and read all about the three choices on offer here in BC. None is quite as simple as FPTP but all are easy to understand and they are all fairer.
Mike Redfern
Cranbrook
