Editor: Next month, starting on Oct. 22, B.C. will hold a referendum on electoral reform. I will be voting in support of proportional representation (pro rep) because it would ensure that I get an MLA I want to represent me. Of course, the idea is that every voter should get an MLA they want, and the overall effect would be a legislature that is a better representation for all of us.
I’ve lived and voted in Burnaby for over 30 years, and, as often as not, my “representative” has been someone I voted against. Defenders of the current system say that’s too bad, we can’t all be winners, somebody has to lose or better luck next time.
Those arguments are weak. Why accept an obvious problem when the solution is at hand? Lots of countries use pro rep voting systems, which make sure most voters have representatives they voted for. Our system elects MLAs that are only wanted by about half the voters in each riding. In countries with pro rep, more than 90 per cent of voters are effectively represented.
The side effect of this poor local representation is that the overall results don’t match the popular vote. Nearly every majority government we’ve had in B.C. since 1945, whether Social Credit, NDP or Liberal, has won a majority of the seats without a majority of the vote to back them up. That is surprising, but it’s true.
The most recent example was the Christy Clark government, which held a comfortable 58 per cent majority in the House on the basis of 44 per cent of the popular vote. But this is not related to any one party – it’s just a built-in distortion of our current voting system. You can look up just about any past B.C. election on Wikipedia and you’ll see similar numbers.
The problem is that all those governments enacted legislation based on their seat majority in the legislature, but they didn’t actually reflect the wishes of majority of the electorate. The point of the legislature is to legislate. If we don’t have fair representation, we won’t get the legislation we want. That’s why this is so important.
Making sure every vote contributes to the election of a representative, i.e. switching to pro rep, means all parties are competitive in every riding. It means the seats won by each party would be a close match to their overall vote. It means there are no safe seats and no strategic voting.
It also means if a party isn’t listening or goes off track, you can change your vote and it will have a meaningful effect.
All of that empowers voters.
So I think pro rep is a better bet. I hope you agree with me and when the referendum comes around in the next month you will mail in your ballot with a yes for pro rep.
Iain Macanulty, Burnaby
