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Submission CHILTON-0558 (Online)
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Submission By | Jeff Chilton, Chair, FreeYourVote Society |
Address | Gibsons, BC, |
Organization | FreeYourVote Society |
Date | 20040606 |
Category | Electoral system change |
Abstract
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A statement on behalf of the FreeYourVote Society of BC [2
pages]
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Submission Content
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I am the Chair of the FreeYourVote Society, a registered
association under the Societies Act of British Columbia. This
Society was formed specifically 'to educate the public about the
need for, and to promote the adoption of, a more fair and equitable
voting system in BC.' To this end, we represent supporters of and
carry on the work of 'A Citizen's Initiative to Establish a
Proportional Representation Electoral System in BC', which was
proposed by Adriane Carr in the summer of 2002.
This Initiative, which had only 90 days to organize the collection
of 210,000 signatures, or 10% of registered voters in every riding,
may be the most extensive educational campaign on electoral reform
in BC history. During the campaign's 90 days, 250,000 newsprint
broadsheets were distributed, experts from New Zealand were
consulted and brought to BC to speak, and meetings were held all
over the province. This campaign was truly a people's movement and
represented a peaceful mobilization against what was viewed as an
unfair voting system - a system where, in the 2001 provincial
election, 58% of votes cast could gain 97% of the seats in the
legislature; a system where, in the 1996 provincial election, 39%
of the votes could form a majority government. Many people of all
political stripes were deeply disturbed by these outcomes and
finally realized that our electoral system needed fundamental
restructuring.
In order to collect signatures for the initiative, a designated
canvasser had to sign up with Elections BC and personally present
the petition to the public at large. There were 4000 people willing
to become canvassers! After the designated 90 days, canvassers
collected 98,000 signatures, less than the number needed, but
considering the time constraints, a very significant number. And in
order to fully realize the difficulty of this Initiative, consider
that a registered voter can only sign a petition specifically
designated for their riding. Thus when a canvasser collects
signatures in Vancouver, they must have over a dozen different
petition sheets and be certain that the correct sheet is being
signed, otherwise the signature would be invalid. A truly daunting
task.
We have been asked, was the Initiative a failure? Certainly it did
not collect the necessary 210,000 signatures. But it did serve to
educate British Columbians to the advantages of another electoral
system, in this case mixed member proportional representation. It
gave people knowledge and it gave people hope. It opened up the
possibility that our democracy could be improved, that
representation could be more proportional and that elections could
be more fair. It advanced the concept that 'every vote could
count'.
And now, during the last 6 months, the newly formed Citizens'
Assembly has been addressing the issue of electoral reform. Those
of us who participated in the Proportional Representation
Initiative are grateful for your dedicated work. And we are also
thankful that our work was not in vain. The new FreeYourVote
Society continues to be supported by individual donations from
involved citizens and most of this money has been spent to produce
and publish 25,000 copies of our 'Hope for Democracy' newspaper.
This was sent out to every one of the 4,000 Initiative Canvassers,
to public libraries and to the media. Members of the Citizens
Assembly would also have received a copy.
So I am advising you that British Columbia has 98,000 people who
form the vanguard of this movement towards electoral reform. They
prepared for you, and yearn for you to act judiciously and with the
best interests of the people of this province in mind. And they
have all, with their signature, and with varying degrees of
sophistication, signed our petitions which advocated a system of
mixed member proportional representation. Ninety eight thousand
people!
And let me make one thing very clear. Our organization, the
FreeYourVote Society, has encouraged those who participated in the
Proportional Representation Initiative to get involved with the
Citizens Assembly. We strongly believe in the Citizens' Assembly.
We strongly support the Citizens' Assembly. And despite the feeling
by many that it is a futile and doomed exercise, we contend that it
is the most important new enterprise that our current government
has undertaken. As such, it is our hope that many of the people who
supported the Proportional Representation Initiative will have made
written or oral submissions to you. And believe me, they are
speaking to you from their hearts, from deeply held convictions and
from years of experience and participation in our current voting
system.
I ask you today to lend these people your ear. I ask you to
consider these people's wishes with the respect they deserve. They,
like yourselves, have chosen to get involved. They, like
yourselves, have stepped forward. They, like yourselves, have
chosen to work towards a more functional democracy, and to make our
government better reflect the will of the people. Please listen to
these people, because they are the voice of a new and energized
democracy in British Columbia.
Thank you
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