If you live in BC, then later this month, you’ll receive a referendum ballot in the mail that offers the chance to make one of the most exciting – and, I think, necessary – changes to our political system in decades. It’s the vote on Proportional Representation. I haven’t posted to my blog in a while, but I felt it was important to share info about this with everyone (and apologies if you don’t currently live in BC! Send it along to all your BC friends though!)
I’ve been quite involved in the “Yes” side’s awareness campaign, and I even created an animation that shows clearly, in 90 seconds, just why our current system needs to change! You can view it by clicking the link below.

Here’s an article by Eoin Finn in Common Ground titled “Proportional Representation: An Historic Opportunity to Improve Democracy in BC”. Eoin has actually experienced Proportional Representation. He is Irish and the Irish have had a PR voting system ever since Ireland became a Republic almost 100 years ago! Like Eoin, I feel strongly that proportional representation (PR or Pro Rep) is an important upgrade we must make to our current “first past the post” (FPTP) voting system so we can have a truly representative democracy in BC.
Please consider voting YES for PR in the upcoming referendum.

Some resources for you

My friend Jackie DeRoo shared the following comprehensive list of resources about Pro Rep and I felt I couldn’t do better than to just pass it along!

Notice from Elections BC
“British Columbia is having a referendum on what voting system we should use for provincial elections. The referendum is being held by mail from Oct 22 – Nov 30, 2018. Registered voters will get a voting package in the mail from Elections BC.”
To be eligible to vote and to receive your ballot, you must be registered to vote at your current address. Visit the Elections BC website.

Information about PR

• BLOG – Electoral Reform in BC : Policy Note – An excellent blog series from Seth Klein of Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
• BLOG ENTRY, Oct 16th, 2018 – Pro rep will indeed mean more minority governments — bring it on! : Policy Note. The latest entry in Seth Kein’s blog series – be sure to check out his other blog posts at the link above
• WEBSITE – Fast Facts – Pro Rep Fact Checker – Proportional Representation Fact Checker investigates claims made about proportional representation by opponents, proponents, and media columnists.
• WEBSITE – PR4BC | Fair Vote Canada – Fair Vote Canada’s special website for the BC Referendum
• WEBSITE – Vote PR BC – Why Proportional Representation? – the official YES side in this referendum
• CBC NEWS, Jun 25, 2018.Why New Zealand’s former prime minister believes proportional representation works better.
• VIDEO, April 12, 2016 – Andrew Coyne explains why Canada’s electoral system is broken – YouTube Andrew Coyne, Columnist, Postmedia News and CBC commentator. In this 5 min video Andrew talks about FPTP in the federal context. His comments are equally valid for FPTP in BC.
• VIDEO – Christie Clark supports Proportional Representation (PR) – In this 2009 video clip of radio show host Christie Clarke, she makes the argument for STV (one type of PR voting system). When she says STV in this video, substitute “PR” because her argument supports PR in general. Any of the 3 PR voting systems included in the upcoming referendum will give us a better voting system than we have now under FPTP.
  
  It’s quite interesting that Christie suddenly changed her mind about PR when she became the Premier of BC in 2013. In that FPTP election she got 58% of the seats, and 100% of the power with only 44% of the popular vote. Funny how politicians love FPTP when it turns out they only need a minority of the vote to get a “majority” government and all the power! (Harper in 2011, Clark in 2013, Trudeau in 2015, Ford in Ontario in July, Legault in Quebec 3 weeks ago)

Want to get involved?

I’ve been doing some work with Leadnow and their “PR for BC” campaign. Referendum ballots are being mailed out starting Oct 22 and Leadnow is holding an in-person Volunteer Orientation on Wed, Oct 24th, 7 PM, at Creekside Community Centre in Olympic Village. Leadnow staff will explain the plan for how we’re going to help win Pro Rep for BC, and how you can get involved. We can’t do it without you! Here is the link for more information and to RSVP for the orientation.
Pro Rep Volunteer Orientation – Vancouver | Leadnow.ca