Submission BURROWS-1591 (Online)

MMP is used in many countries around the world, balances proportional results with geographic representation, encourages consensus building in government and has been proven to increase the number of women elected to office. [2 pages]

As a long-time activist and politically involved person in BC, I have a very keen interest in improving our voting system. Over the years I have been fighting to improve education for our children, safe conditions for workers, environmental protection and rights for whistleblowers. These efforts have sometimes been inside the political system but more often from the outside, as an activist.

Like many so called activists, there have been many times when I wished that living your life should not require so much fighting. That you could simply involve yourself in a political process that fairly represented the wishes of the population and this would result in fair public policy.

However like many British Columbians, I feel more and more like my vote doesn't count. I look at the results from our dysfunctional electoral system and it makes me want to involve myself less in politics and more in activism.

BC now has a unique opportunity to change our political system from the dysfunctional blood-sport that it currently is, to become a vanguard for electoral reform in Canada.

I strongly support change that will:

I feel that mixed proportional representation [MMP] is by far the best system to achieve these important goals. It is used in many countries around the world, balances proportional results with geographic representation, and has been proven to increase the number of women elected to office.

Having spent many years involved in political issues I also appreciate that that we need a system that is not only fair, but will be accepted by the people of BC. Nick Loenen's proposal of using separate voting systems in rural and urban areas is not only unfair, it has the very strong perception of being partisan because in general it would favour the political right. If accepted, this system would further divide British Columbians along political lines and would surely never be approved through referendum. We would then loose a valuable opportunity to improve our not only our voting system, but the important goal of good faith and non-partisan cooperation towards a better British Columbia.

Likewise STV is unlikely to win approval through a referendum because it has such a poor record of electing women in the countries where it is used. I for one would campaign against such a system because I am not going to stand by and see us change our voting system into something which very likely make it even harder to elect women to public office.

The Citizens Assembly is a unique body with a incredibly important task. Let me add my voice to the chorus of British Columbians that yearn for a system that is less acrimonious and more effective and fair. I urge you to recommend a system of mixed proportional representation so for a change I will have an opportunity to fight for something, rather than against it.