[To see the submission in its original format, see the linked
document below]
Reform Party of BC: Submission on Electoral
Reform
Our proposal is consistent with the Terms of Reference on both the
Constitution of Canada and the Westminster parliamentary
system. Our recommendation is not to re-invent the way
we currently elect our Members to the legislature every four or
five years, but to make them accountable to the electorate after
they are elected.
Changing the way we are governed is not going to provide more
accountability to the electorate. Something happens
when we elect someone to parliament. They all start
out, provincially and federally, promising they will be there to
represent us. Once there however nothing seems to
change. Decisions in parliament continue to be made
whether we approve of them or not.
Proportional Representation (PR) is not as
democratic as some people believe it to be. Electing
someone to represent them in the Legislature should not be based on
the percentage of votes we have according to
population. It should be based on whom you believe
candidates should be accountable to: the constituents who elect
them, or the party that appoints them.
Parties, based on the percentage of their total votes won, would
be able to decide from their list who would get permanent
employment, bypassing the requirement of those who did not or could
not get elected by their constituents based on their own
merits. These appointed individuals therefore would be
accountable to their party and not to their constituents.
Mixed Member (PR) means running candidates in
two or more constituencies. There might not be a great
difference between voters in two or three constituencies within one
municipal area such as Vancouver, particularly when the
constituencies are geographically close to one another.
However, we believe there would be a big difference, for example,
if two constituencies North Vancouver Seymour and North Vancouver
Lonsdale were combined with a third such as West Vancouver or
Burnaby because not all three would have the same municipal
government. Combining constituencies throughout the
province where distances from each other are even greater than this
example could impose tremendous problems for the
voters. Concern could arise if three candidates were
all elected from the same constituency. The other two
constituencies may feel they are not being properly
represented.
The Preferential (Single Transferable) ballot
works well when selecting your first, second, third or other
choices for a candidate or director whose philosophical ideals are
similar with their party members. This works well
within the party, especially at conventions and nomination meetings
when every party member supports a similar ideology.
This does not work, however, when preferentially selecting your
first, second, third or other choice for one candidate from four
different parties with dissimilar ideals (e.g., NDP, Liberal, Green
or Reform).
Proportional representation is not going to change the way we
are governed in fact it will add to the problem of minority
governments catering to small parties in order to gain power.
It is interesting to note that the Citizens’
Assembly brochure on page three ‘The families studied
include:’ point out systems from areas around the world
without any mention of our neighbour to the south of
us. What makes the USA the most powerful democratic
Nation in the free world is the accountability directly placed on
the politicians by the electorate holding their feet to the fire by
workable Initiative, Referenda and Recall
Direct Democracy removes any potential conflict
between the politician and the electorate. I am not
advocating government by referenda but when it is evident
politicians are pushing an issue that is clearly not in the best
interest of the people, irrespective of how they were elected, the
only proven method to protect it from happening is by the people
themselves through Initiative and Referenda.
We already have citizens Initiative and Referenda
legislation. However we have to make the
existing Initiative and referenda legislation workable.
Mr. Ujjal Dosanih NDP Premier and Mr.Gordon Campbell BC Liberal
Leader of the opposition made initiative and recall, passed in
1991, totally unworkable. In order to initiate
referenda you have to obtain signatures from 10% of the electorate
who were registered in the last election in all 79 constituencies
in order for any measure to pass. Signatures from 3% to
repeal an existing law and 6% to initiate a new law of the votes
cast for all candidates in the last provincial election would make
it more workable.
Many of the 160 Assembly Members, I am sure, do not all live in
Vancouver or Victoria and recognize there is a need to provide an
equality and fairness, especially in the outlining areas that does
not currently exist. What better time than now to bring
all regions together. One way would be to end the
discrepancy between urban and rural areas.
A redistribution of constituencies and regions need to be
adopted to recognize that our province lacks fairness between the
densely and sparsely populated areas. Currently, the
geographical area covered by one MLA in a sparsely populated
constituency of BC is far greater than the area currently covered
by ten MLAs in the Vancouver constituencies.
Residents in more populated areas typically have a wider variety
of resources (e.g., municipal government and other agencies) to
address their concerns than residents in sparsely populated areas
who may rely on their MLA more heavily. Addressing
issues in rural areas usually requires MLAs to travel greater
distances than their counterparts in the more populated regions of
BC.
In order to provide fairness between the densely and sparsely
populated areas, there would have to be an equal number of
constituencies within a given region and all constituencies in a
given region would contain an equal number of voters, plus or minus
25%. However, one region may not necessarily contain
the same number of voters as another region.
The only way that all regions could contain an equal number of
voters would be if all voters lived an equal distance from one
another — a situation which currently does not reflect
the reality of our population distribution. If this
difference of population currently exists federally between
provinces such as PEI, Quebec and other smaller provinces, then it
can exist here provincially.
In order to eliminate this inequality that currently exists, we
recommend you apply a double majority to referendum decision-making
in BC. On a provincial referendum, both a majority of
the total votes cast and a majority of the regions would be
required for the measure to pass.
You could even have a referendum within the region, again both a
majority of the total votes cast and a majority of the
constituencies, within the region, would be required for the
measure to pass.
Statistically, we know that many Canadians, especially our youth
between the ages of 18-24, and the next generation, between 25-40,
do not vote. If we had direct democracy, similar to the
USA, in which the electorate had the opportunity to vote on
important issues, I believe that many of the 30% of people who did
not vote in the last provincial election would take a greater
interest in politics.
The two occasions on which BC has seen the largest voter turnout
were during the referenda process in 1991, when over 80% of the
electorate supported Recall and Initiative, and in 1992 when voters
rejected the Charlottetown Accord, an accord that, although heavily
supported by big business, media and the politicians, was strongly
rejected by the people.
Before making your final decision, ask yourselves to whom our
provincial government should be empowered by, MLA’s
from a list selected by and accountable to a party, or
MLA’s representing their party’s value and
principles selected and elected by their constituents?
And remember, how we elect our representatives is not as important
as to how we make them accountable once they are
elected.
We need to bring trust into government not by changing the way
we elect our politicians who seem to be controlled by some out side
force the moment they get elected into power. We need
to give the electorate the right to workable Initiative, Referenda
and Recall, which incur meaningful debate on issues that are not in
their best interest that are currently being pushed upon them.
Bill 52 – 2004 Electoral Reform Referendum
Act, Special rules for the electoral reform referendum
will require at least a 60% vote in at least 48 of the 79
constituencies in order for the measure to pass. What
this means is the government, without public input, have placed the
power of the Assembly’s referendum question into the
hands of a 40% minority and a minority of 31 of the 79 (40%)
constituencies. Less than 50 %+1 places a disadvantage
on voters in support the motion.
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