Editorial from Nanaimo Daily News

B.C. leads way to reform

[The following editorial column appeared in the Nanaimo Daily News on April 26, 2004. It was reproduced there from the Red Deer Advocate newspaper in Alberta, where it appeared on January 13, 2004. It was written for the Advocate by Greg Neiman. It appears here by kind permission of the Advocate. ]

B.C. leads way to reform

Every country has its mythic icons, images of those moments frozen in history that people use to define their identity as citizens.

These images are a kind of shorthand to explain the higher ideals of a people. For instance, Britain has the signing of the Magna Carta, where the notion of divine right of kings was ended; the United States has its Declaration of Independence, which codified the notion of equality of all people; France has the storming of the Bastille.

Canada has Meech Lake.

Actually, we have a lot more than that. Our national icons include Confederation, the famous image of the Last Spike at Craigellachie, Vimy Ridge and the patriation of our Constitution, to name a few.

Perhaps, in a year or so, we will have one more.

Recently, British Columbia struck a unique committee to decide how that province will form its government.

What is so amazing about this exercise is not how badly electoral reform is needed in this country, but rather it is the courage and confidence of the elected legislators to stand by and let the decisions rest with the people.

The only people left in Canada who prefer our first-past-the-post system of electing governments are the elected governments themselves. How else could an established government maintain their overwhelming grip on power, often supported by a minority of actual votes?

So to see the process put into place in B.C. is almost enough to restore one's faith in Canadian democracy.

Here's how the assembly works and was formed. The names of all B.C. voters were put into a database and 200 names were chosen from each of the province's 79 ridings.

Then, from among those 200 who agreed to take part, draws were made to create a final group of 159 people who make up what's being called a citizens' assembly.

Not a legislator in the bunch. Remarkably, the citizens' assembly is a better representation of the voters than the legislature itself.

The B.C. government has agreed in advance to take the assembly seriously.

Whatever system of voting and election is finally selected, the government has agreed to include a question for implementation into the next election.

So, by 2009, B.C. could have proportional representation in a multiparty legislature, with more than one party ultimately represented in cabinet, or any other system this assembly can devise.

Let's hope when this assembly's work is done that the members pose for a good picture, something suitable for the history books.