I believe that the work that your Assembly is doing is very
important.
I support a degree of proportional representation.
By this I mean that I would like two-thirds of the seats in the
legislature to continue to represent constituencies
[MMP]. These could be elected by either
first-past-the-post or a majority system. A
transferable vote would be good.
The remaining one-third should be elected by proportion by the
party. I am quite happy to have a threshold, of say 5%,
to ensure that parties represented have
“significant” support.
My reasons for this preference are:
-
The overall public preference will be better represented in the
legislature. Minority views will not be completely
eliminated from the house by the majority. This will
remove one of the key complaints about people feeling that
viewpoints of a significant proportion of the population are
ignored.
-
This method should lead to a dampening of the dramatic swings
that we have seen in BC. These swings are very
disruptive to the population and are incredibly
expensive. Simply shuffling ministries is a huge
expense with, usually, little or no value to the
public. Just eliminating the administrative costs of
name changes alone would save a lot of money that could be used for
programs. Dampening the swings would make the program
delivery more efficient.
-
Having the broader range of views expressed in the house at
least provides the opportunity for better
decision-making. It does not guarantee it
-– nothing can. It will still depend on the
party in power having enough common sense to listen and actually
hear alternative ideas. But at least the ideas can be
on the table for consideration.
I would also like to make a comment about a statement I have
heard concerning a so-called problem with proportional
representation. I have heard it said that this would
reduce the opportunity for citizens to be heard by their
constituency representative. In the same breath it is
suggested that the current method does a good job in this
representation.
I wish to strongly disagree with that view. The
representation for a citizen in a constituency only works well if
they happen to be of the same persuasion as the elected
MLA. If you have a view different to the party of the
MLA you are likely to get short shrift. In our current
party system, there is a great tendency for the party view to be
thrust back down upon constituencies, rather than the party
listening to the local concern.
With proportional representation, each party could easily assign
some of its members to cover territory in which the party did not
win constituency seats. This would mean that there
would be more than one way for a citizen with a concern to express
a view to the government.
So I believe that proportional representation, mixed with
constituency representation, can actually do a better job of
serving citizens in the role of local representation.
Good luck with your deliberations. We are looking
forward to a major step forward in our democratic process in
BC.
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