Submission WORK-0464 (Online)
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| Submission By | Inger Work |
| Address | Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada |
| Organization | |
| Date | 20040524 |
| Category | Electoral system change |
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Abstract
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I feel strongly that British Columbia should adopt a form of
proportional representation [PR] in its electoral
system, but with some geographical representation because Canadians
are very attached to their geography. [2 pages]
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Submission Content
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I feel strongly that British Columbia should adopt a form of
proportional representation [PR] in its electoral
system. I have lived in Canada for 25 years, and in Denmark for 30
years. Therefore I have experienced both types of systems. To me
the FPTP represents a system of 4-year cycles of dictatorship,
whereas the proportional system is democratic in its nature.
Arguments for change:
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Votes will not be wasted and we will not have governments with
power far above what their real support warrants.
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More people will start voting, once they find out that their
voice counts. As it is a lot of British Columbians don't bother
voting, and who can blame them, or they say they are not interested
in politics. But they complain when things don't go their way, so
there must be some interest. I think the word is more like
'helpless. What can you do when a party, that
is, the Liberals at the present time, has 77 out of 79
seats and don't have to ask anybody about anything?
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The party in power, whether they have a majority, or form a
coalition, or, not as often, form a minority government will
actually have to work while in office. What a novelty
and change from just sending out decrees. They will have to justify
their decisions and do some real research, and actually pay
attention to what British Columbians think (not as it is now: we
dust the people off once in a while, and pretend that we listen and
then stuff them back into the closet and arrogantly do whatever we
feel like).
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Because decisions made by the government have been discussed and
debated and possibly been accepted by a larger number of people
than in the FPTP system, later govts. are more likely to not scrap
everything a previous government decided. That I think is a real
plus. There seems to be an abominable waste of time with the
present flip-flop between two parties that scrap whatever the
revious party did, often because the decisions are made rashly, or
just because the system is adversarial.
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We won't have people relying so much on hope, which is another
way to say that they feel they have no say.
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Generally better balance in government. It appears that once
peole have been wooed during election campaigns, the government
represents whichever group of people they feel like,
even though they should represent all British
Columbians. It is harder to do that under a proportional system.
How the proportional system should be designed I can't say
exactly, but maybe we should still have some ridings, because
Canadians are very attached to their geography, if it can be
expressed that way. I think it might be too confusing to elect all
candidates by proportional representation. Also in Denmark, I
remember, an experiment with lowering the margin for being
considered for a seat to about 3% of the total votes. That was too
low, resulting in 12 or 14 parties jabbering in
the Folketinget, and nothing much was accomplished.
Therefore it is important that the system be designed properly.
Hoping my 2 cents worth counts, I want to thank the Citizens'
Assembly for their tremendous efforts.
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