So you think we should switch to a proportional representation (PR) electoral system?
Come on, Andy, not again.
Didn't we settle this in a 2009 referendum on PR in B.C.? Didn't 61% of B.C. voters find PR too hard to understand, deciding our current first-past-the-post (FPTP) system delivers stable, representative and streamlined government.
So let me get the proposal straight: Depending on the PR system, I get to vote either for a party or for my first, second and third choice of candidate? Regions would get four or five reps, assigned based on the proportion of votes they receive? Is that what you're telling me?
Too complicated.
I just want the person who gets the most votes to win the election. Is that too much to ask?
I want to know who my local representative is and I don't want a bunch of second or third choices elected or appointed just so the Alberta Oil Party can have 3% of the seats its vote count might merit.
I don't want a legislature that has 25 parties. In some countries, it takes weeks after a PR election to negotiate a coalition government among balkanized mini-parties.
I want a system that allows voters to elect an irascible independent candidate, to elect a person over a party affiliation.
And I don't want to open the door for extreme, loony parties to be apportioned seats based on regional voting anomalies, like separatist parties in Quebec or Alberta.
Sorry, Andy, I guess I'm the conservative this week.
I know all the inadequacies of our current electoral system. I know that most progressive countries have adopted PR voting in some form and that the U.S. and Britain are the only other major countries stodgily clinging to "old-fashioned" FPTP electoral systems.
Still, I submit that right now, in the parliamentary systems of B.C. and Canada, this works for us. It favours bigger political parties that must seek the political middle ground to win elections.
Our elections start with a simple choice: Elect one winner with clear local accountability and force fringe crazies into large-tent parties rather than rewarding them for ranting from the sidelines.
As a result, B.C. and Canadian governments are relatively efficient and stable.
