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Submission BEECH-0386 (Online)
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Submission By | Robert Beech |
Address | Burnaby, BC, |
Organization | |
Date | 20040513 |
Category | Electoral system no change |
Abstract
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The Assembly's efforts should be directed towards pressuring the
existing parties to change their non-democratic methods of
selecting candidates, and suggesting a "free votes"
to force MLAs to vote the wishes of their constituents.
[2 pages]
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Submission Content
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With respect, I must point out some of the challenges and
pitfalls to your efforts, which are indeed perhaps oversimplified
by the label "Proportional vote".
To begin, as a public sector worker placed sufficiently high in the
food chain to hear the sotto voce murmurs from the Executive Suite,
I am disgusted with both of our major two political parties'
tinkerings with the public sector as a whole. In
fairness, had the NDP governed pragmatically and with common sense,
as opposed to ideologically with one eye always out for the photo
op, we would not be in the position of having to bend over while
Mr. Campbell vents his spleen on all those people who made him
suffer in school -- the smart people.
But I must point out that historically in BC, we have been shafted
by the proportional vote. In 1953, British Columbia had
the "Transitional Vote" [AV], a form of PR. In that
election, the CCF beat WAC Bennett's Socreds 21 seats to
14. But thanks to the Transitional Vote and the fact
the Lt. Governor was one of WAC Bennett's buddies, the Socreds were
anointed by the Lt. Gov. and became the government of
BC for about 30 years. First Past the Post would have
given the CCF the victory.
As an aside, if the Lt. Governor has the authority to appoint
Governments for real, as in 1953, and theoretically dissolves them
before the Writ is dropped, then could a non-confidence
motion/petition signed by a million British Columbians and
delivered to Ms. Campagnolo's front door force her to dissolve this
current pack of sociopaths? It would certainly draw
lots of media attention as U Hauls loaded with signed petitions
dropped off box after box. And certainly the people of
British Columbia have been a very effective opposition until
shafted by the BC Federation of Labour, for the second or third
time in twenty-one years, depending on how you count
betrayals. There is a real need there to bypass the Fed
and go directly to the rank and file. Union leaders
have ceased to be responsive to their members and that has led to
the ascension of Jack Munro, Ken Georgetti, and lastly, (sigh) Jim
Sinclair. The Fed has forgotten that power comes from
the shop floor.
However, to return to PR.
Assuming that a Proportional Vote was the appropriate way to go,
there are several challenges to be faced. First, before
you can commence the task of creating electoral form, you must
first become elected. Currently, this means a First
Past the Post Campaign. Is there any political party in
this Province with the political mojo to knock the Liberals off
their perch? I don't think so.
Carole James, the new leader of the NDP was another of the NDP
Stepford MLAs during the Clark/Dosanjh (now a federal Liberal,
you'll note. So much for integrity and ideology within
the NDP). She has little to offer other than being
politically correctly female. As an example of how
witless Carole is, the May 2 headline on the Provincial NDP website
read , "Carole James Welcomes Resolution to Strike".
Which implied that she supported the iniquitous imposition of Bill
37 upon the HEU. While Mr. Campbell has given away many
seats through his own drunken stupidity, aided and abetted by
sidekicks like Attorney General Geoff Plant, censured by the Law
Society of BC (how bad do you have to be before even lawyers shun
you?) and Solicitor General Rich Coleman, whose IQ is only slightly
less than his belt size, and who nearly turned the tragedy in
Penticton into a full scale disaster by scurrying out with a press
conference exculpating himself before the bodies had stopped
falling.
Should the NDP actually win the election on a FPTP basis,
Proportional Vote will disappear faster than a six-pack at a biker
rally. They'll have the power and that will keep them
reluctant to change the rules.
Are any of the other Parties who support Proportional capable of
winning such an election? I will avoid the obvious
jokes and state that to be an effective legislator, one has to have
some parliamentary experience. Governing is more than
simply setting policies and then saying, "Make it so".
I see no one in the Electoral Reform coalition capable of running
the Province due to sheer lack of experience.
In some cases, the coalition consists of Parties with only one
issue. You cannot govern a Province burdened by a
multitude of issues when yours is to only to legalize marijuana,
however worthy that goal may be. It is ironic that the
only political group in this Province that presents anything like a
real platform is not a political party at all. It is
the "Prepare the General Strike Committee".
Another issue is that of democracy. Assuming an
effective process was in place, and the seats were awarded
proportionally, how would the MLAs be chosen? I have
been a member of the NDP until recently, and a member of my union's
executive counsel, and what I see every day is "Bloc
Voting". A few apparatchiks decide that so-and-so gets
the job and the "election" is then rigged to create the desired
outcome. Is that any more democratic than the system already in
place?
As I see it, the main problem is the "whipped vote". In
short (and I'll avoid any reference to Kevin Kreuger's fondness for
whips), despite an MLA's personal conscience, he or she must vote
the Party line. Therefore a simpler reform would be to
abolish the Office of Party Whip, thus freeing every MLA to vote as
he or she truly believes, as opposed to something dictated to them,
no matter how personally distasteful.
There are two current Cabinet Ministers who must have found the
homophobic dismissal of Ted Nebbeling, former Secretary of State
for the 2010 Olympics, very upsetting. But they stuck
to the Party line anyway. To object would have cost
them their jobs as well.
In conclusion, efforts could perhaps be better directed towards
pressuring the existing Parties to change their different, but
equally non democratic methods of selecting candidates.
A "free vote" on every bill would force MLAs to vote the wishes of
their constituents, rather than the power elite at the head of the
Party.
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