First of all, I appreciate this opportunity to provide a
submission to the Citizens' Assembly. I think the work that the
group is doing will be vital in the on-going development of our
province's democratic institutions.
I'd like to preface my remarks by saying these are stricly my own
comments, and are not intended to cast judgement on any governmnent
or political party.
I have read the very well-written facts sheets on each of the
different systems of electing members of a legislative body, and
have some beliefs. I don't necessarily prefer one electoral system
over another, but I do have some thoughts and observations that may
be relevant.
Preferential voting in electing geographic MLAs: if members of the
Citizens Assembly choose to change our electoral system, I believe
there will likely remain a system of electing at least some of the
MLAs by geographic districts or ridings.
A very simple change could be to put in place a preferential ballot
[AV] for this component as British Columbia had in place in 1952
and 1953. Preferential balloting could offer BC voters more of an
opportunity to make a vote count by marking multiple preferences.
This would reduce the possibility of a wasted vote because a
voter's preferred candidate didn't win.
Preferential voting could add more legitimacy to the process of
electing riding MLAs, as MLAs elected with half the vote may have
more of a democratic claim to the seat, even if they won by second,
or third choices.
Proportional representation: There has been a great deal of
discussion of the possibility of implementing a system that
includes a component of proportional representation. Proportional
representation could clearly provide a way to provide legislative
status to parties that earn a significant percentage of the vote,
but who don't necessarily have the critical mass in electoral
districts to translate into seats.
My thoughts with a system of PR would be as follows:
While I realize the benefits of providing representation to parties
that may not have the critical mass to win in electoral districts,
I still believe strongly in the accountability of MLAs to a
geographic area. I believe a cap on MLAs electable through PR would
be a good thing: ideally 30 to 40 per cent of the seats in the
legislature, but no more than 50 per cent of the seats.
On a further note of accountability, there will have to be some
thought in the applicability of the province's recall legislation
pertaining to MLAs elected through a system of PR. I don't know
what the changes would be, but the recall legislation as it stands
is clearly intended for geographic MLAs only... and would have to
be amended.
Phasing in change: Given the simplicity in our system of voting,
there could be some confusion in implementing a new system of
electing MLAs. While any changes approved through a
possible referendum in 2005 could be in place by 2009, perhaps
there could be consideration in phasing in changes over two
elections, such as 2009 and 20013?
Again, thank you for your time and the work you're doing.
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