News release - Burnaby public hearing

Broader representation important, members told

A desire to ensure a broader representation of women and minority groups in BC’s Legislature were among themes highlighted Wednesday night to members of the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform during a packed hearing in Burnaby.

Around 80 people attended the hearing – the third of 50 taking place throughout the province during May and June.

Seven presentations were made by members of the public, including one by New Yorker Sol Erdman, who had flown into Vancouver to address Assembly members. “The Assembly is an incredible undertaking. There is nothing like this in the world where citizens have been given an opportunity to remake their electoral process,” said Erdman, who urged members to consider how voting systems can affect the type of relationship that exists between citizens and legislators.

Nurse Andrea Wiebe presented a case for proportional representation by urging members to choose a system that would not only increase the number of women and minority groups in the Legislature, but also increase voter turnout.

“The challenge is to find, promote and introduce to BC a voting system that makes every vote count, encourages sincere voting patterns, is free, fair and produces representative and democratic governments,” Leslie Brown told Assembly members. Brown advocated a form of Mixed Member Proportional Representation.

Fellow speaker Iain Macanulty also spoke in favour of some form of proportional representation, suggesting a single transferable voting system akin to that found in Ireland. Greg Dickey also favoured proportional representation because he said it would ensure votes are not “wasted”.
A question over how electoral ridings are mapped in BC was also raised by one speaker, Patrick McMullen. In his presentation he suggested ridings follow the “mountain trenches, with present economic corridors taken into consideration”. 

The challenges faced by deaf-blind and visually impaired voters were also highlighted at the Burnaby meeting by speaker Monique McDonald. McDonald reminded the audience of the importance of visually impaired individuals being able to vote “independently and privately”.
The next public hearing is in New Westminster tomorrow night (May 6) at the Inn at Westminster Quay. That will be followed this week by hearings on Saturday in Surrey/White Rock and Valemount.

The number of planned public hearings grew this week to 50 from 49. The extra meeting will be held in Vancouver on Saturday June 12. A full schedule of hearings, and information on how to sign up to make a presentation, is on the Assembly’s website at The Assembly is an independent, representative, non-partisan group of 160 randomly selected British Columbians. They must decide by December 15 whether to propose a change to B.C.’s electoral system. If they recommend a change, it will be the subject of a referendum for all voters in the May 2005 provincial election.