Proposal and Thoughts on Electoral Reform
The issues we are talking about here today are very serious
issues that will have long reaching implications on the kind of
society we will create as a result. It is vitally important that we
recognize that not anyone system is perfect, and that a little bit
of moderation is always a good thing.
I think it is also vitally important that we recognize that the
greatest political disconnect today in our society is the growing
rift between the urban and the rural communities of BC. The more
that our political system is based on a majority rule, then the
more that the larger regions of this province experience a loss in
sovereign participation in their democracy.
My greatest concern is that the urban majority opts for a pure
form of proportional representation in which we loss all form of
local representation for the rural regions of the province. But
even greater then that is my fear of the kind of politics a
proportional representation system would generate. We have become
accustom in Canada to a political legacy that is not based on
ethnic divisions and extremist fractures that would cause great
damage through opportunism to the publics consideration of our
political system.
I see proportional representation as a recipe for political
hatred, and unaccountability that feeds on a narrow parochial and
potentially ethnocentric divisions. It exploits sensitive issues
for narrow representorial accountability, and if allowed to take
control is bound to generate ethnic and ideological problems. Does
this mean that these people should not have a right to
representation? No it simply means that their influence should be
moderated to a limited scope. In fact if limited and developed it
can facilitate some other possibilities that I will mention
later.
This brings us to the critical question of what should our
democracy look like? More importantly how can we create a political
electoral system that ensures the sovereignty and participation
from all sectors of society in British Columbia.
A few critical questions stick out to me in order of
importance:
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How will the growing urban-rural divide be addressed in any
electoral reform?
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How will our made in BC electoral reform set precedence for the
Canadian electoral reform? And how will that precedence help or
hurt BC at the federal level?
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How will any proportional representation system affect the
ability to have affordable recall legislation?
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How will this new electoral system deal with issues of
appointments such as our Premier?
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How can our BC legislature represent both BC global and local
issues effectively?
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How can we help to ensure true majority rule, while still
retaining the rights to representation for the lower proportional
perspectives?
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Will the Citizens of BC have a voters bill of rights that is
associated with any electoral reform?
To start with, any electoral reform must deal not only with the
small party issue, but also the issue of the urban-rural divide
that is the largest problem for BC of which there are many well
publicized issues. This is a very important issue not only for the
allocation of tax dollars, but also for balanced economic
development when it comes to economic issues that effect the far
reaching rural regions of BC. BC has an economic regional diversity
greater than almost any country in the world, and any electoral
system has to take account of this.
In America they opted for State Senates when they came to the
realization that they had to deal with the issue of unique regional
diversities. This became so important that eventually every single
American State designed one system or another to deal with this
issue through electoral reform. Now I know any talk of the American
political system is not welcome, but the facts are we do share
common culture with them, and on an issue as profound as this is I
think we should take note of some of their more successful
electoral reforms. Besides the same concept was envisioned by
Canada's founding fathers in its Parliament, and was the solution
to regional alienation in Australia.
So it appears that the precedent has been set for Senates in
other political jurisdiction of complex regional concerns under the
Westminister style of government, but I recognize that forces
beyond our control have limited any electoral reform to that of a
single Legislature.
This means that the key to any successful electoral reform will
have to deal with the issue of the urban-rural divide through
single legislature solutions. Therefor I think this is where any
electoral reform must be centered and focused on.
My dream and my vision for BC is a Legislature that is comprised
of the same number of MLA's as we have existing today. One that is
elected and structured in the following way:
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55 MLA's elected at the local level based on equal population
per riding. These MLA's would be elected through a transferable
ballot method that ensures the winning MLA has 50% or more of the
vote. Current recall Legislation would apply to these MLA's.
-
12 Senatorial MLA's that are elected regionally from 6 economic
regions. Two of these regional MLA's will be elected in each region
through a transferable ballot that awards the candidates with the
most votes, or the first two that get past 50%, get a seat in the
legislature.
-
Any of these regional MLA's will have the right to call for a
regional vote on any legislation that the Legislature passed. A two
thirds majority would be needed in this 12 person regional vote in
order to reject the Legislation. Ideal this the legislative role
would never be exercised, but just its existence would provide the
security required politically for all the regions outside of the
Vancouver-Victoria majority.
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Any legislation that the 12 regional MLA's veto is sunshine'd,
or only veto'd only until after the next election. After the next
election that same legislation can be reintroduced by the new
legislature.
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These regional MLA's have no power to introduce their own
versions of a bill, they can only reject bills that don't include
the views of a provincial majority.
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Other then their regional role they are no different than all
other MLA's in their day to day responsibilities.
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BC's economic regions that I would include are: Vancouver
Island, the Lower Mainland, Okanogan, Kooteneys, Thompson-Carriboo
including everything West of the Fraser River in Prince George, and
the last region would be the North with everything West and North
of the Fraser River from Prince George.
-
Regional MLA's will not necessarily be party affiliated and
therefor are more free to ensure an open vote atmosphere in the
Legislature.
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Current Recall Legislation would apply to these MLA's
and finally
This can add a whole new dynamic to the Proportional
Representation concept and help to bring in well needed non
politically aligned expertise into the Legislature.
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Any party with more than 4 elected seats to the legislature
would not have their votes counted towards the Proportional
Representation vote count. Each seat would be awarded for the
closest party or individual with 8.33% of the PR eligible votes per
seat.
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The Premier of the Province has to run as an Individual
candidate for a PR seat with a Provincial wide campaign.
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The BC Legislature appoints its Federal Senators from its pool
of available individual candidates that are elected to the BC
Legislature.
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No party can have more than four members to the Legislature
through the Proportional Representation system.
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No Proportional Rep candidates can be recalled due to the
logistics of a provincial wide campaign for a single candidate.
Only the legislature can impeach a PR candidate.
Each ballot will contain the following choices:
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One vote for your local MLA through a transferable ballot with
first second and third choices available.
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One vote for your regional candidate through a transferable
ballot with first second and third choices available.
-
One vote for your provincial candidate through a single
Provincial Proportional Rep Vote. (I should note that the parties
in the local vote that don't receive four seats in the legislature
would automatically have their votes transfered to the PR
vote.)
To sum up this concept of a BC Legislature we would have 55
local MLA's, 12 Regional MLA's, and 12 PR MLA's. All of them would
have the same voting power in the legislature for all provincial
legislation, if there was no regional objections voiced. 24 of
these MLA's would likely be made up of independents or small
parties, which would mean government would have to take in the
interests of all concerns to move forward a political agenda.
This legislature as a whole should have the individual MLA power
to participate in voting for approval of any Judicial, Ministerial,
or Crown Corporation appointments. This is as much an effort to
select the best and the most qualified for these positions as it is
an exercise in creating a larger more integrated consensus from a
wider spectrum of society at key points in government.
Once we have reformed the process in which we elect MLA's in
this province I think it is vital that we also take into
consideration the other equally important issues that safeguard our
democracy. I think it would be wise to also incorporate a voters
bill of rights that includes things such as electoral financing
laws that limits direct political financing to citizens only, and
encourages open and accountable influence for non-citizen entities.
This is important to protect the loyalties of our elected
officials, and encourage greater win win situations between society
and industry. I believe that the level of democracy we have
justifies the level of sovereignty we have, and this will be the
most important tool available for BC in negotiating an equally fair
arrangement with the rest of Canada.
In closing I would like to also address my concerns for the vote
counting process. This is the most important aspect of any
election. A democratic election requires a provable and verifiable
electoral counting process for the vote to have any meaning. Let me
be on record as saying I oppose any form of electronic voting that
is not verifiable by all parties through a paper record.
Thank you very much for taking this time to listen to my
concerns.
Chad Bester, Vice President - BC Democratic Futures Party