News release

Citizens' Assembly to listen to B.C.

The Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform has issued a "Preliminary Statement to the People of British Columbia" inviting public input on British Columbia’s electoral system, and on the specific values British Columbians want reflected in it – such as local representation, voter choice and proportionality.

The Assembly stressed that it has not come to any conclusion about whether the present electoral system needs to be reformed. "In fact we have deliberately refrained from doing so. . . . This is a time for discussion and debate and we invite all British Columbians to join us in this process."

The 160-member Assembly did say that any alternative system to be considered "must reflect the values it believes are central to the political health of the province’s democracy." And it went on to draw attention to two important defining features of electoral systems:

1. Local Representation: "Our tradition has long valued a system of representation that provides for local representation — for its politicians to speak for and answer to the distinctive communities that make up the whole province. . . . (The Assembly) anticipates that any reformed electoral system would need to maintain a strong element of local representation.

"Creating an electoral system that ensures effective local representation is an important challenge. The practice of party discipline obliges MLAs to vote as their party decides, not always as their voters prefer. The Assembly is interested in considering electoral systems whose features help ensure that elected representatives are more responsive to the concerns and views of their constituents."

2. Proportionality: "The Assembly believes that that it is important that the outcome of an election, in terms of the distribution of seats in the Legislature, should reflect the expressed intentions of citizens as expressed in their votes. This is the principal of proportionality – seats won should be proportional to votes won. . . .

"The Assembly is aware that proportional electoral systems are likely to end the dominance of one-party majority governments and lead to a more consensual, or at least coalitional, style of politics in which opposition and small-party MLAs have the opportunity to play a greater role in the government of the province. It believes that a move away from the highly charged adversarial politics that have characterized the province in recent decades might foster a politics more in keeping with the values of contemporary British Columbians."

The Assembly did not outline any specific system of proportional representation. "There are a number of possible proportional systems. . . . The Assembly believes that many of these offer rich possibilities for British Columbia and deserve careful consideration. On the other hand, systems that are not responsive to the goal of increasing the proportionality of the system would seem to offer little in the way of advantage over the single-member plurality system we now use.

"The Assembly wants to hear from British Columbians. It wants to hear if they share its conviction that local representation needs to be an important element in the province’s electoral system. It wants to hear if they agree with it that a more proportional system would better reflect the basic values of our province’s population. It wants to hear what kind of choices they would like to see at the polls. And it is anxious to hear what kind of electoral system our fellow citizens believe can best express our common values."

To this end, the Assembly will be holding public hearings in 49 communities across B.C. in May and June. The public hearings will be immediately followed by a meeting in Prince George June 26-27 at which members will discuss what they heard from British Columbians during the hearings. Then in the fall, members (who come from all over B.C.) will hold five or six full weekends of deliberation, culminating in a final recommendation.

Members of the Assembly must decide by December 15 if they will propose a change to B.C.’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.

[Issued 21 March 2004]