INTRODUCTION
The Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform is a welcome and
inspiring exercise. I appreciate the invitation to make a
submission.
SUMMARY
I recommend:
-
the development of a Mixed Member Proportional System (MMP) for
the election of members of the Legislative Assembly;
-
the ratio of directly elected seats to proportional
representation (PR) seats should be 60% to 40%;
-
a threshold of at least 6% of all votes cast should be the
hurdle for a small party to clear before participating in the
allocation of PR seats;
-
voting should be made compulsory in the way that participation
in the national census is compulsory.
CRITERIA
In order to foster support of the electoral system within the
community the system must produce representative
government, the process must be readily understood, not be costly
to implement and be the same as the Federal system.
COMMENT
-
I have read the "Preliminary Statement" of the Citizens Assembly
and am persuaded by the arguments advanced there and in the
"International IDEA Handbook of Electoral Systems Design" for a PR
system.
-
Canada has a well developed liberal culture supported by common
law and legislation, including the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
which provides protection for minorities and covers the right to
form political parties. So it is not necessary to structure the
electoral system to provide additional support for minorities.
Hence the recommendation for a threshold of 6%. This is also the
point at which a political party starts to receive Federal
subsidies to support its work.
-
The Assembly should have as one of its criteria the cost of
implementing its recommended system. In particular it should
consider the cost of support and remuneration including
pension rights of any significant number of additional new MLAs and
civil servants. The recommended system should not come to be seen
as another costly scheme providing employment for civil servants,
and only intangible benefit to taxpayers.
-
The Federal Government Commission on Electoral Reform favours a
MMP system and I think the Provinces should implement the same sort
of system to promote unity through uniformity across the
country.
-
I consider the right to vote for the election of members of the
Legislatures a valuable privilege, which should be given with care
and which should carry a corresponding duty to vote. Elector
participation possibly could be increased by rewarding those who
vote and/or penalizing those who do not.
CONCLUSION
The Assembly's final report is eagerly awaited; with the hope
that the recommended co-ordination with a new Federal system would
not delay progress in British Columbia.
|