Fears that most people will toss their mail-in ballot for the upcoming proportional representation vote into the trash, leaving the field open for the Yes side to win, have BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson taking to the road to urge people to vote against electoral change.
Wilkinson was in Coquitlam Tuesday attending a Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce luncheon and took a few minutes to explain why he plans to vote against proportional representation when ballots are cast this fall.
Among his concerns, he said, are that proportional representation is more likely to lead to unstable governments created by back-room dealing and will give more power to fringe groups, compared to the current first-past-the-post system.
And he said he's concerned voters would lose local representation because larger ridings would be created and MLAs could be chosen from party lists.
Wilkinson also said he's concerned there is only a Yes and No side allowed in the current campaign, each with a $700,000 spending limit, preventing individuals and small groups from doing their own campaigns.
Elections BC says the official group campaigning to retain the current system will be the No BC Proportional Representation Society while the group working for a switch to a PR system will be the Vote PR BC. No other groups applied before the July 6 deadline.
Wilkinson said he is worried 70% of voters will throw their ballots into the garbage and the remainder will spoil their ballots because the referendum vote is too complicated.
“We have to encourage people to learn about this, make your decision about pro and con, and then talk to others,” Wilkinson said.
The BC Liberal leader also touched on a number of housing affordability issues, criticizing the BC NDP government for initiating policies he said will add to the costs of housing, construction and daycare.
“Affordability issues are deteriorating under the NDP,” said Wilkinson, who is also the MLA for Vancouver-Quilchena.
On the housing file, Wilkinson said his own adult children can’t afford to move to Vancouver and he blamed increases to the property purchase tax and new school tax on homes over $3 million, the new speculation tax as well as cities' high development cost charges and community amenity charges.
“We have to do a lot to increase supply and decrease costs on the purchaser,” Wilkinson said.
In response to a question on mental health and addictions issues in the Tri-Cities, Wilkinson advocated more control of prescription pain medication, noting that opioid addition is often an offshoot of people seeking pain relief.
He also criticized the NDP’s child care plan, arguing that private day care suppliers are getting out of the business because they can’t manage under the government’s subsidy rules.
He also singled out the government’s community benefits announcement Monday, saying the new rules will hinder employers from making their own employment decisions and will favour some people over others.
“Governments are never supposed to be picking winners and losers.”
