Re: ‘Viewpoint’, (PQB News, Oct. 2)
Michelle Stilwell gave her two bits on the upcoming referendum. She starts out by stating that “the fine print on the proposed options for proportional representation… hasn’t been written yet.” Ms Stilwell is talking about alarm bells, instability, “how is that fair,” and quoting the Fraser Institute’s usual negativity, all in all doing more fear-mongering in her submission than actually informing us.
As for the fine print: the BC Attorney General published his report with referendum recommendations back in May. Regarding fringe parties: fringe parties won’t get a seat unless they garner a minimum of 5% of the votes. On instability: “…from the point of view of how often a country goes to the polls, Canada is actually the most unstable of the major democracies, with 21 elections since World War II compared to 17 in Italy, a country often cited as an example of instability” (from fairvote.ca).
In the current system, a small shift in voter preferences can result in a huge shift in number of seats to the winner, and the loser, giving us ridiculous swings of power from right to left and back to right. Majority governments are great, if you’re on the winning side. However, unless you’re on the winning side, your vote is wasted.
As for fairness, how is it fair that smaller parties like the Greens are almost invisible in the Legislature. In the 2005 B.C. election, the Green vote of 9.2% gave them no seats at all, yet 9.2% equals about 8 seats. Last year they received 16.8% of the votes, yet received only 3.4% of the seats. How is that fair? Proportional representation won’t be perfect either, but it most definitely makes each vote count.
If you care about having a say in government, every time you vote, get informed!
Frank van Thienen
Parksville