Re: Sour grapes look Green - and NDP (letters, June 13).
In a B.C. election at the constituency level there can be several people seeking a win. This creates a problem as often no one gets 50 per cent plus one needed to declare a victor. To declare a winner, a system called first past the post is used, where one person is declared the winner when they get the most votes.
First past the post is not used to declare who forms government. Whoever wins the most constituencies forms the government. In the B.C. election the Liberals won the most so the Lieutenant Governor has asked them to form the government.
To make the argument that some how adding the number of votes of two parties together makes them the majority, is totally irrelevant. The election system is not based on popular vote. There have been provincial and federal governments that were in power because they won the constituency vote and not the popular vote. The last NDP government in B.C. did not win the popular majority.
Also, one cannot assume popular vote by adding together votes of various parties. As an example; there is no way of knowing how many Green voters would vote to conjoin with the NDP… the NDP may not have gotten their vote if there was a second choice. Adding party votes together presents a false narrative but is being done for the purpose of trying to rationalize power when popular vote is (sadly) not relevant
Yes, I value democracy and do so knowing it has come at a huge cost. Thousands of Canadians gave their life for us to have the right to vote. For them, bring on election democracy!
No comment on have-not vs. the have’s or vice versa, as daily I see all Canadians working together to build a great nation.
Harold Baker
Parksville