By Cam Fortems – Kamloops This Week
An NDP government proposal to hold a referendum next year to change the way British Columbians vote is stacked against the Interior and North, according to B.C. Liberal MLA Peter Milobar.
Milobar, MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson, accused the Green party-backed New Democrats of stacking the results in favour of proportional representation.
READ MORE: Referendum on B.C. voting system next year
“You have two-thirds of the population in the Lower Mainland,” Milobar noted.
The NDP government said the referendum — by mail-in ballot — would require only a simple majority.
In two previous referendums on electoral reform, in 2005 and 2009, the B.C. Liberals required a supermajority of 60 per cent and a simple majority in at least 60 per cent of British Columbia’s electoral districts to change the first-past-the-post manner of voting to a single-transferable-vote porportional representation system.
The first referendum came close to seeing a change in how we vote, with 97 per cent of the ridings approving a change, while the provincewide vote came in at 57.69 per cent, just short of the 60 per cent mandated by government. The provincewide vote in the second referendum was just 39 per cent.
Milobar said without the requirements imposed in the two previous referendums, the Lower Mainland will decide on a system for the rest of B.C.
Murray Todd, an organizer of local efforts to promote alternatives to the first-past-the-post system, said governments have consistently failed to implement changes to democracy.
He believes it does not require a referendum, only a vote in the legislature.
“In P.E.I., it passed and, when it got to the legislature, they said, ‘Only 32 per cent participated and it’s not a fair vote.’ If it got turned down, the vote would have been legitimate. It’s a double standard,” Todd said.
Thompson Rivers University political scientist Derek Cook welcomed the opportunity to discuss alternative ways of voting, but he said the topic is complex and will require voter education.
The New Democrat government has said it will undertake education on proportional representation prior to the ballot in November 2018.
If adopted, the new system would be in place for the next provincial election in 2021.
“Proportional representation means coalition governments … It’s unlikely one party in proportional representation would get more than 50 per cent of the vote,” Cook said.
Milobar said British Columbians are already expressing frustration with today’s NDP-Green coalition.
Premier John Horgan said the province’s current electoral system is unfair.
“I believe you shouldn’t get all of the power with less than 50 per cent of the votes,’’ Horgan said.