News release

Assembly probes electoral options

At their next weekend of meetings, members of BC's Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform will focus on three types of electoral systems used in various democracies around the world: proportional representation systems, single transferable vote systems and mixed systems.  

UBC political science professor Ken Carty suggests Assembly members ask themselves what kind of politics they want in BC.  “It’s the answers to these kinds of questions that should drive the decisions regarding what kind of electoral system we want.”

Assembly members next meet Saturday and Sunday, February 21 – 22, at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at 580 West Hastings Street in downtown Vancouver.  Meetings are open to the public, but space is limited and seating is first come, first seated.  Meeting times are: Saturday, 9am – noon and 1 – 5pm; Sunday, 9am – 12:30pm.

This will be the fourth of six full weekends in which Assembly members learn about electoral systems. In May and June, the Assembly will hold 49 public hearings in communities throughout BC.  The public hearings will be immediately followed by a meeting in Prince George on the weekend of June 26-27 at which members will review and discuss what they heard from British Columbians during the hearings. Then in the fall, members then hold five or six full weekends of deliberation, culminating in a final recommendation. 

They must decide by December 15 if they will propose a change to BC’s current system of translating votes into seats in the Legislature. If they recommend a change, it will be the subject of a referendum for all voters in the May 2005 provincial election. Any change approved by the voters would take effect with the 2009 BC election.

The Assembly's 160 members come from all over B.C. 

For further information, please contact:
Marilyn Jacobson
Director of communication 
Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform 
#2288 - 555 West Hastings St
PO Box 12118 Vancouver BC V6B 4N6
Phone: 604-660-1363 (1-866-667-1232)  
Fax: 604-660-1236
E-mail: mjacobson@citizensassembly.bc.ca  
Cell: 604-816-1232