I wish to register my opinions and concerns about the electoral
system in British Columbia and I am very pleased that our
government has seen fit to organize this Citizens' Assembly on
Electoral Reform. I am a registered professional biologist in BC
and I reside in Duncan where I have a consulting firm, Ecodomain
Consulting.
I am interested that the focus of electoral reform for many people
is proportional representation as a panacea for what ails us
politically in the province. I believe the basic principles
underlying proportional representation are reasonable: first, that
all voters deserve representation and second, that all political
groups in society deserve to be represented in our legislatures in
proportion to their strength in the electorate. Equally of
importance, however, is:
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Maintaining a connection between an electoral district and those
who represent that district in the legislative assembly so that
citizens can approach and hold responsible, those who represent
them.
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Another important factor is maintaining parties that can through
their platforms and legislative programs address government in a
comprehensive manner.
I am here to take the role of a Cassandra, not that I can see
the future, but that I have concerns that proportional
representation could exacerbate the divisiveness and wide swings,
and legislative experiments that we experience in this province. I
am particularly concerned about the recommendation from the
independent legal commission to the House of Commons that Canada
move to a mixed form of proportional representation [MMP].
I will not bother to give details on the advantages of PR, others
will rush to do that, particularly smaller political groups and
single-interest groups. As far as boosting numbers, PR according to
the literature that I have read, can only hope to raise voter
turnout by 10-12%, an improvement, but certainly not the amount
that some would hope. Increasing the numbers of women and
minorities and the representation of smaller political parties and
interest groups sound very appealing to some and there could be
some advantages with this. However, what would we be trading?
Indeed, what worries me the most, is that proportional
representation could lead to splitting and fractioning of political
parties as they try to appeal to sectional or religious or regional
cleavages. This is the concern that the political scientist at the
University of Saskatchewan, John Courtney has expressed. I am
convinced that mixed proportional representation could lead to a
fractured, fighting and deadlocked legislative assembly that may
lead to further concentration of power within a beleaguered
Premier's office and possibly the type of mayhem of an Italian or
Isreali parliament or perhaps just a lack of direction and a
government that cannot govern much less move forward as rapidly as
our current societies, economies and environmental issues
demand.
Small parties and single-interest groups do not easily compromise
on their issues because they are not given a mandate by their
constituency to make deals. While many of us abhor deal-making, I
suggest that the public has become rather too jaded about
politicians and we ignore the need for democratic institutions to
make sound compromises, to govern and to make the tough choices
based on mixes of social, economic and environmental issues. Today
we have these same interest groups, these same small political
groups and interests, but today these groups work out some of their
interests and issues within political parties. Without an incentive
to work together before an election, these small interest groups
might attempt to work out their differences in the legislature.
Without the incentive of forming government, however, many small
groups would be there simply to grandstand or champion their own
narrow issue. This may be true even if minimum 5% limit is placed
on the parties and in fact, I think the limit would have to be
closer to 20% to be meaningful. Currently in BC, political parties,
those large enough to gain a majority, form party platforms and
develop comprehensive approaches to governing. The advantage to
this situation is that the people in a political party understand
that they are there to form a government, to comprehensively run
all the functions not just to represent one group or one issue.
I think it is very important to define carefully what our electoral
problems are and then see if we can match the solutions with the
problems. So what are our electoral problems?
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The dictatorship of the majority or ruling party,
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The use of the Premier's office as the sole source of power,
sometimes to the exclusion of Ministerial input,
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Extreme party discipline that rules out airing of differences of
opinion;
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Legislative experiments such as extensive labour laws legislated
under the one administration and then the turfing out of this
legislation under another with opposing legislation initiated.
I do not believe that changing our electoral system will do much
to avoid these wide swings in political positions in this province
as I believe that it is part of the make-up of this province and of
the country that we have some broad divides between some sectors in
our society, particularly labour and business. This may not change
even under different electoral systems. I do believe, however, that
there are some problems with the excessive power in the hands of
one party and particularly in the hands of a few people in an
administration.
There are some ways to address this problem. These include:
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A formalized committee system open to the media where evidence
and scientific information and interview with experts can provide a
more solid basis for decision-making.
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Providing checks and balances within our government by
separating the legislative and executive functions of government
much as the judiciary is separated. Thus allowing the legislative
body to keep in check the executive office of the Premier.
Please note that I have strayed from electoral reform but I
truly believe that our problems are not on the election side but
are in the governing system. I am not convinced that proportional
representation will assist in solving the problems, in other words,
the solution of electoral reform does not fit the problems. I would
hope that the Citizens' Assembly would consider recommending to
government that the solutions should fit the problems
identified.