It is high time that BC and all of Canada for that manner
abandoned the archaic, unfair first-past the post electoral system.
It disenfranchises people, discourages many from voting for the
candidate and party they actually prefer, and potentially produces
wild swings in governmental ideology based on tiny changes in
overall party support at the polls.
I am fully in favour of a mixed-member proportional representation
system as a way of addressing these problems. Such a system will
require politicians and parties to work more closely together and
be more respectful of their points of view because every party
could potentially be a coalition partner of the other.
MMP would also encourage interest groups that back various parties
to also be more realistic and respectful toward each other, because
the prospect of a winner-take-all jackpot of legislative upheaval
would be much less likely.
In short it could produce better government, more interest in
political life, and better representation of women and other
under-represented segments of society in the Legislature.
Please do not fall for the various manipulative preferential ballot
schemes being promoted by some. BC had a preferential transferable
ballot system at one time and abandoned it under WAC Bennett. Such
a system [AV]guarantees continuation of many of the same serious
problems we currently have with the first-past-the-post system -
problems your Assembly has been working hard to address.
Let the people vote directly for who they want to represent them.
Let the people's votes count. Then, after elections, the
politicians will have to respond to the clearly expressed will of
the people and figure out how the government will be composed.
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