Below are brief responses to questions put forth by the editorial
in the Vancouver Sun on 12 January 2004:
1. Under the current voting system, parties win a
majority of the seats often on less than 50 percent of the vote. Do
you find that acceptable?
No, simply because I believe, in a truly
democratic system, the governing party should have the demonstrated
support of at least 50% of the voters.
2. Under the current system, voters often support
a candidate or party that is not their first choice for fear of
wasting their vote. If that could be changed, should it be?
Yes, voters should be given the opportunity to
vote for the candidate and party of their choice and have some
assurance that their vote will count as would be the case in a
proportional representation voting system.
3. Making the voting system more proportional will
likely lead to coalition government. Do you approve?
Yes. There are coalition governments currently
in power in many democratic countries that seem to be governing
effectively and responsibly. One advantage of coalition governments
is that in making decisions on important issues, a variety of
viewpoints need to be considered and often effective compromises
are reached that are acceptable to a greater proportion of the
voters. In Canada, there have been cases where minority
governments, that are required sometimes to act like a coalition
government, have been very effective.
4. Do you feel party discipline should be: As is?
More? Less?
Less. There should be greater flexibility in
party discipline which will allow greater importance to be given to
the views of constituents. Party discipline may vary depending on
the legislation being proposed. Especially in a coalition
government there needs to be flexibility in party discipline to
facilitate the development of compromises.
5. The power of MLAs to hold cabinet accountable
should be: Increased? Decreased? As is?
Increased. MLAs are the people's
representatives in the government so should be given more
opportunity to ensure that cabinet is accountable to the
electorate.
6. Of the five goals -- proportionality, more
choice, stable government, institutional reform and local links,
which do you value most?
Proportionality. In particular, a mixed
proportional representation system would automatically by its
nature provide voters with more choice and in itself would be a
major institutional reform that could be the catalyst for
additional institutional reforms. Also, the maintenance of
constituent representation in a mixed proportional representation
system would help to ensure the stability of our governing
system.
levelCMS