By way of preamble, the Vancouver Sun in its last weekend
coverage of the Citizens' Assembly Opening included a
questionaire. I include it here together with my
choices:
1. Under the current voting system parties win a majority of the
seats often on less than 50 % of the vote. Do you find
this
acceptable?
NO
2. Under the current system, voters often support a candidate or
party that is not their first choice for fear of wasting their
vote. If that could be changed, should it
be?
YES
3. Making the voting system more proportional will likely lead
to coalition government. Do you
approve?
YES
4. Do you feel party discipline should be: As is?
More?
Less?
LESS
5. The power of MLA's to hold cabinet accountable should
be: increased? decreased? as
is?
INCREASED
6. Of the five goals -- proportionality, more choice, stable
government, institutional reform and local links, which do you
value
most?
INSTITUTIONAL REFORM (WITH REGARD TO GOVERNANCE; IN RESPECT OF
ELECTORAL REFORM, PROPORTIONALITY)
Moving on, I favor a New Zealand-like MMP voting system
in BC. I support the "Pro Rep" Initiative's suggestions
as to how their model for an MMP voting system for BC could be
improved.
1. Keep 79 MLA seats in BC's
legislature and change to a ratio of two-thirds constituency seats
and one-third party list seats. This responds to the
concern of people in rural BC who want reasonably-sized
ridings.
2. Require political parties
to run candidates in at least 50% of the constituency seats in
order to qualify for list seats. This would eliminate
the possibility of a party being simply a "list party" and not have
its candidates grounded in local electoral politics and local
public scrutiny.
3. Require political paries by law to
select list candidates in a democratic way that grants every party
member a say in the selection process and require that they file
with Elections BC a detailed description of how their party's
selection system works. This would ensure
that "list" candidates are fairly selected by due democratic
process, and ensure transparency so that the public knows how
parties select their candidates.
4. Have flexible lists where a voter
can choose either to accept the list as ranked by the party or
choose one candidate on a party's list to be placed at the top of
the list. If a candidate exceeds a threshold of 8% of
the party's voters placing that person first, the candidate moves
to the top of the list. This would balance
the merits of increased voter choice with the merits of closed
lists which give political parties the ability to use their lists
to achieve balanced representation for women, minority groups, age
groups and geographic regions.
Continuing, I draw attention to the report to Parliament titled
Voting Counts: Electoral Reform for Canada (see
www.lcc.gc.ca for the
full 232-page text), released by the Law Commission of Canada on
March 31, 2004. The five key recommendations in the
Commission's report echo and are contained within the "Pro Rep"
Initiative's suggestions cited above.
I fully support the following issues and sentiments as expressed
in the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform's Preliminary
Statement to the People of British columbia --
Local Representation:
"...The Assembly is aware that for British Columbians in rural
areas...a vigorous system of local representation remains a highly
valued dimension of their political life...that any reformed
electoral system would need to maintain an element of effective
local representation....that the practice of party discipline
obliges MLA's to vote as their party decides, not always as their
voters prefer. The Assembly is
interested in considering electoral systems whose features help
ensure that elected representatives are more responsive to the
concerns and views of their constituents."
Proportionality:
"...seats won should be proportional to votes won..."
"...proportional representation. Such
systems typically ensure that more parties are able to compete
successfully and so provide voters with more choice. A
direct consequence is that more interests and groups are able to
have their voices heard in a Legislature that is more reflective of
the social composition of the electorate.
The Assembly is aware that proportional electoral systems are
likely to end the dominance of one-party majority governments and
lead to a more consensual, or at least coalitional, style of
politics in which opposition and small party MLAs have the
opportunity to play a greater role in the government of the
province. It believes that a move away from the highly
charged adversarial politics that have characterized the province
in recent decades might foster politics more in keeping with the
values of contemporary British Columbians.
...To avoid excessive political fragmentation some consideration
might have to (I would suggest "should definitely have to") be
given to establishing a modest threshold that parties would be
expected to meet before being guaranteed
representation." My suggestion would be a
threshold of about 5%.
In summary, I submit that it is imperative to call for a change
to the electoral system in BC; further, that a MMP system inclusive
of the points iterated above would offer a much fairer Legislature,
more truly representative of the diverse elements in our
society. This in turn, one would expect, would lead to
more reasoned, more balanced, less stidently adversarial governance
in the province.
levelCMS