PROPOSAL FOR THE CITIZENS' ASSEMBLY, August 2004
I am suggesting a bicameral house system consisting of a
Legislative Assembly and a Senate. Members of the Legislative
Assembly would be elected by a Mixed Member Proportional
Representation system with each voter having two
votes—one for the Constituency Representative and the
other for a Political Party. The Legislative Assembly would have 79
members, 60 of which would be elected as Constituency
Representatives by a preferential balloting system. The balance
would be determined by the party lists based on the proportion of
Party votes each Political Party receives. The Senate would have 50
members elected from the 25 Senatorial Districts by the process
described below.
Role of the Legislative Assembly
The members of the Legislative Assembly would be responsible for
initiating legislation, creating laws, and generally governing the
province.
Role of the Senate
The function of the Senate would be to determine if the
legislation passed in the Legislative Assembly is in the interest
of the whole of the province and only then ratify the legislation.
It is this ratification that enables the subject legislation to
become an enforceable law of the Province. If the legislation is
not ratified, the Senate can return it to the Legislative Assembly,
with or without suggestions, for revision by the Legislative
Assembly.
Two persons would be elected by a Preferential Ballot in each of
the Senatorial Districts.
There would be Geographical and Gender requirements for election to
the Senate.
Geographical Requirements
There would be 25 Senatorial Districts (here we would need the
assistance of Political Geographers to determine the
number and the boundaries of these districts. The criteria would be
based on the concepts of rural and urban populations. There is an
assumption that, at least, some of the interests of these two
groups diverge. By having geographical representation, these issues
can be examined from a broader perspective.
GENDER
Of the two members elected in each Senatorial District, one
would be female and the other would be male. This, too, would bring
a wider perspective to the ratification process.
TERMS
Each legislative body would be elected for a fixed period of 4
years. Elections for the Legislative Assembly would be held on a
fixed date and the Senatorial elections would be held two years
later. This would create greater continuity in our governors.
Provisions would have to be made to deal with impasses in one or
both houses. Two potential situations come to mind.
-
an impasse in the Legislative Assembly that threatens to
immobilize the house. To encourage the members to legislate
cooperatively, a 60% majority would be required to dissolve the
house and, thus, necessitate a mid-term election.
-
an impasse caused by the Senate returning a piece of legislation
without ratification to the legislative Assembly on two previous
occasions. In this situation the Legislative Assembly could, with a
60% majority, enact the subject legislation into law without the
need for ratification by the Senate.
Financing of Candidates and Political Parties
A Democracy Surcharge would be levied on each adult every year.
This would likely be done with the filing of income taxes each
year. ALL campaign financing would come from this fund.
Each and every candidate would be eligible for the determined
amount irrespective of past electoral performance or party
affiliation. Any Political Party fielding candidates in more than
60% of the ridings would be eligible for Party Administration
funding. Expenses would have to be filed by each candidate and
those documents would be subject to audit. To be eligible, each
candidate would submit a nomination form containing a fixed number
of signatures from registered voters in the contested riding. A
similar requirement would be necessary for those party members on
the party list in the case of the Legislative Assembly contestants.
This signature requirement ensures that frivolous candidates would
be discouraged from running while allowing a wider spectrum of
registered voters to actively seek election by reducing the
financial hurdles.
No donations, other than the time of volunteers, could be
accepted by a party from any source, be it private, corporate, or
union. Membership fees and voting rights would be
standardized for each party.
Conclusion
I believe that a provincial governing system similar to that
outlined above would encourage a more cooperative approach between
Political Parties, would become more accountable to the people, and
would provide a voice in the governing process to a greater
proportion of British Columbians.
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