Dear editor,
Voting reform? It seems our new provincial government is intent on wasting taxpayer money, as they are all wont to do, never for an instant considering the old saw about, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it,’ on a ‘plebiscite’ to determine how British Columbians should vote in forthcoming provincial elections.
When I first came to Canada in 1955, Premier Ernest C. Manning of Alberta was elected by proportional representation. When Peter Lougheed came to power later he scrapped that and reverted to the majority system, and since then no province, nor the federal government, has used any other voting method than electing a majority of MPs or MLAs to form their governments.
Justin Trudeau quickly discovered there was little enthusiasm for a change to the present system and dropped the idea.
The chief drawback to the proportional vote is that it gives far too much influence to parties that have, at best, miniscule support. In B.C., the NDP government cannot govern without Green Party support, only because the Liberals or NDP didn’t elect enough MLAs, not because of proportional representation. Had either major party achieved a majority of seats, the Greens would have sunk into the obscurity the voters chose for them.
We have a workable system, given to us and most of the world’s democracies by the British Parliament. Don’t change what doesn’t need changing.
Norm Blondel
Courtenay
