Current Shuswap MLA Greg Kyllo has weighed in again on proportional representation, the vote counting system that gives fairer outcomes and results in an overwhelming majority of voters being represented in the legislature.
Mr. Kyllo is known for his peculiar Nov. 27/17 tweet in which he called the NDP government “illegitimate,” and the current referendum a “power grab” by the Green Party – which, he omitted to mention, received a substantial 332,387 votes (17 per cent) in the 2017 election.
Combined with the 795,106 votes given to the NDP, that makes a total of 1,127,493 votes. Compare this to the BC Liberal Party’s 796,672 votes – a mere 1,500+ votes more than the NDP, and 330,821 fewer than the combined NDP/Green Party voters’ mandate.
The NDP and Greens have actually formed a true majority government – a rarity under first-past-the-post, where typically 40 per cent or fewer votes wins all the political power.
Letter: Anderson condemns Kyllo’s comments
Governments in countries using proportional voting systems always elect governments that represent a majority of voters; in countries with first-past-the-post, this is the exception.
Mr. Kyllo has a special affection for the Koch Brothers-supported, corporation-friendly Fraser Institute.
He states the Fraser Institute says governments under proportional representation spend 24.3 per cent more than governments using the current system. But what the Fraser Institute actually says (not surprisingly, in the middle of the referendum campaign) is that governments in countries with proportional systems spend 6.6 per cent more than countries with our current system in absolute terms (a more real-world measurement).
And they spend that on social and environmental programs, for which Mr. Kyllo’s government has very little respect.
I trust Mr. Kyllo will use arithmetic more accurately when he makes future pronouncements.
I think it’s high time we opted for a proportional vote-counting system, where the number of seats truly reflects actual voter support.
Warren Bell
