News release - Penticton hearing

Better legislature manners?

The Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system was offered Wednesday night, at a public hearing of the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform, as a way of cleaning up behaviour in the B.C. legislature.

Presenter Tom Hoenisch told the hearing in Penticton that this form of Proportional Representation would raise the level of debate.

"Have any of you ever seen a typically raucous debate in that chamber? It often consists of little more than members hurling personal insults and invective at each other while trying to score points in the media.

"Now since under ProRep we would we would often have coalition governments, this would tone down the personal attacks because the person you are attacking today may be the person that you have to join with in a coalition after the next election."

Another presenter advocating MMP, Kevin Barry, agreed: "All you see is confrontational yelling back and forth, and not discussing the legislation. . .. (MMP) is more likely to produce consensus-based government."

Cass Robinson and the Penticton Raging Grannies (two from Penticton and two from Oliver) also proposed in song that under MMP "politics will moderate here in our own B.C."

Two members of the audience of 73, who have seen Proportional Representation systems in action, begged to differ.

Errol Anderson, who has voted under MMP in Scotland, told members: "It does not improve the level of debate. You still get the partisan stuff."

And Fergus Stewart said that in Northern Ireland under another PR system "they just can't get along in the legislature at all. . . . It makes for great TV."

But both said MMP should work in B.C. and would be an improvement on the current first-past-the-post electoral system.

Under Hoenisch's version of MMP, the legislature would be cut from 79 seats to 72. Half the members would be elected in constituencies that coincide with the 36 federal ridings in B.C. The other 36, from lists made public by the parties in advance, would be allocated seats to ensure that each party's share of seats in the house reflected its share of the province-wide popular vote.

"The most important fundamental benefit is that the people of B.C. will finally have a legislature that truly reflects the wishes of the voters," said Hoenisch. "The tyranny of the Left and of the Right will be broken."

As a side-benefit, said Hoenisch: "This would be cheaper, as you'd have fewer MLAs, and, using the same electoral boundaries, one (boundary) commission could do the work of two."

Earlier, Barry conceded that MMP, with a legislature unchanged in size, would mean some larger ridings. "But sometimes you've got to give something to get something."

While Hoenisch spoke of reducing the number of seats to 72, Brigid Kemp of the B.C. Communist Party proposed it be increased to 100, with 50 elected in constituencies and 50 through MMP. But their salaries should be cut, she said, so they earn the average annual B.C. income, plus reasonable expenses.

Another public hearing, with a separate team of Assembly members, was held Wednesday night in Sparwood. The 50th and last of the hearings (held all over B.C. in May and June) is in Kelowna tonight (Thursday).

Details on these hearings are on the Assembly's website at www.citizensassembly.bc.ca. So is information on how to make a presentation at the Kelowna hearing, or to send in a written submission.

The Citizens' 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 BC'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.