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Editorial, The Vancouver Sun27th October, 2004 :
Vancouver (Internal)
View electoral reform with an open
mind
[Lead editorial, The Vancouver
Sun, 27 October 2004.]
The citizens' assembly voted on the weekend to
recommend a dramatic change in the way we elect members of the
provincial legislature. They decided that British Columbians would
be better served by an electoral system that attempts to create a
legislature that more closely represents the diverse views of the
voters.
In the beginning, the notion of a citizens'
assembly on electoral reform seemed a bit fanciful if not
completely naive.
It was difficult to imagine how 160 ordinary
British Columbians selected at random from across the province
could tackle such a complicated subject and agree on a single
course of action.
Their success has to be seen as a triumph for the
idea of democracy and a credit to everyone involved.
The process was initially designed by Gordon
Gibson, who has observed the political process from inside and out,
as an MLA, a provincial party leader, a senior aide to the late
prime minister Pierre Trudeau, an author and commentator who has
long argued for electoral reform.
Gibson took an archaic idea -- the notion that
ordinary citizens can provide wise leadership -- and put it in a
form suited to a modern province.
Jack Blaney, a former president of Simon Fraser
University, put Gibson's plan into action. He charted new territory
as chair of the Citizens' Assembly. By all accounts, discussions
within the assembly were a model of civility and the members were
seized by a sense of historic opportunity and
responsibility.
The best testament to the dedication of the
members is the fact that, despite the gruelling work schedule,
almost all of them stayed with it until the final vote.
The success of the assembly ultimately reflects
well on the politically courageous decision of Premier Gordon
Campbell to set the whole process in motion, despite objections
from some of his political advisers who recognized that his party
may have the most to lose.
On May 17, 2005, all voters in British Columbia
will get a chance to decide whether to accept the recommendation of
the Citizens' Assembly.
The impact of that vote will be profound. If
voters accept the recommendation, our political system will be set
on a new course into what will be for Canadians largely uncharted
waters. We know the legislature would look different, that majority
governments would be less common and that smaller political parties
would have a better chance of being represented.
We do not know how those changes will affect the
quality of the leadership we receive, however, or how they will
affect the economy or other aspects of our daily lives.
In the hours since the Citizens' Assembly voted,
we have seen a rush to judgment by commentators and some of the
parties that would be affected by the change, most notably the
Green Party, which has never won a seat in the provincial
legislature and now appears to be hell-bent on an approach that
will ensure it never does.
We hope most British Columbians will approach the
issue more in the spirit of the deliberations of the assembly,
whose members proved how vital and important citizens can be. They
took their job seriously, approached the issue with open minds,
weighed the evidence against their own values and then made a
decision.
This is an historic opportunity. Don't let it
pass you by.
[© Copyright 2004,
The
Vancouver Sun
. Reproduced here by permission of The
Vancouver Sun.]
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