I am grateful to the Assembly for providing the opportunity to
submit comments. I am also impressed by the quality of those
comments I have read.
I strongly believe a proportional voting system is necessary for
the province. The problems with the current FPP system far outweigh
any advantages that cannot be achieved by other systems. At worst
we would have a more interesting set of problems to solve, moreover
ones which require us, and especially MLAs, to become better at
working for the public good and seeking consensus. I am not at all
worried about "messy" or "ineffective". To the extent those are
real concerns, they are more easily surmounted than the structural
deficiencies of the current system.
I favour and urge Assembly members to recommend a modified version
of the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP)system in place in New
Zealand. I believe it is important to retain the element of local
representation while ensuring proportionality through election of
MLAs that are not tied to local issues but can work on larger
issues at the bioregional or provincial scale.
The interesting part will be the modifications needed to resolve
the issues raised by others in this forum regarding the list
members.
For the constituency MLAs, I believe the FPP system does not
deserve to be retained even here. There appear to be other systems,
such as Approval Voting, that can be consistent with proportional
systems and provide a much fairer reflection of community
interests. This would also provide access to the system by
independent candidates.
As for the list members, I suggest one or more of the following be
considered to ensure the creation of list meets high democratic
standards:
-
require a party to satisfy criteria related to balanced
representation of women, minority groups, age groups and geographic
regions, in order that its list is approved by Elections BC
-
require parties to allow all members a role in defining the
selection process and agreeing on who is selected (perhaps some
form of STV could be used here?)
-
have flexible lists that enable a voter to accept the list as
ranked or 1) choose one candidate to be placed second below the
party leader, or 2) choose the voters own ranking, with candidates
receiving a sufficiently high support under 1 or 2 being moved up
to the second place.
I also hope the Assembly will send a strong message to
municipalities that the voting system for councillors also needs
transformation, and to the Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and
Women's Services on appropriate changes to the Local Government
Act. There needs to be more representation at the local level for
interests other than business or development.
A modified MMP voting system is a necessary but insufficient
element of a transformed electoral system that encourages more
people to participate and represents the diversity of interests of
British Columbians.
Best wishes to Assembly Members for recommending a change to our
electoral system that sets us on the path to that vision.
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