IT’S ONE YEAR SINCE P.E.I.’S ELECTORAL REFORM VOTE
An interactive forum discussing proportional representation marks one-year anniversary of electoral reform vote
Claire Byrne of Charlottetown says P.E.I. is the perfect place to try something like proportional representation.
“It is a tiny province, we have an incredible amount of access to our politicians and I think if things are going to change, it would be in a place like P.E.I.,” said Byrne.
Byrne, who is doing a double major at UPEI in political science and diversity and social justice studies, voted in the November 2016 plebiscite in favour of proportional representation.
The 23-year-old Charlottetown woman said Islanders are due for a different kind of political voting system.
“First-past-the-post just isn’t cutting it anymore,” said Byrne. “Our society has changed and our population has changed.” Byrne was one of approximately 75 people who showed up at the Murphy Community Centre in Charlottetown Wednesday night to discuss the way people cast their votes and mark the one-year anniversary of the 2016 electoral reform plebiscite.
The P.E.I. Coalition for Proportional Representation hosted the interactive forum. Three panelists, Taya Nabuurs, Ian Petrie and Leonard Russell, took part in the event. Nabuurs, who is a fourthyear political studies student at UPEI, was a Daughters of The Vote delegate who gave a speech to Parliament about electoral reform and proportional representation.
“I can remember distinctly standing in the House of Commons and looking around at the women around me and how empowering that experience was and realizing that I wanted to see more of that,” she shared with the crowd. Nabuurs also helped in the 2016 plebiscite. She was a public education officer for Elections P.E.I.
She said it was a challenge to teach five different voting systems to an entire province. “It was very hard to try and strike a balance between giving people enough information that they could make an informed decision and also not dumbing things down.”
Russell, a retired school superintendent, said one of the challenges PR faces is people who vote the same as their parents.
“Family voting patterns will be a big thing that you have to crack,” said Russell.
Petrie, a retired CBC journalist, says people should do some soul searching before launching out to try and engage others. Petrie spoke about philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer who said all truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed and third it is accepted as being self-evident.
“I keep thinking about the 64 per cent of Islanders that didn’t vote in the referendum,” said Petrie.
“Are they ridiculing us? Or are they violently opposed to this?” He also highlighted concerns about British Columbia’s 2018 referendum on electoral reform and how that could affect P.E.I. in the 2019 election.
Byrne said she was feeling hopeful after seeing the number of people who turned out to take part in the forum.
“I think it shows that this was not a one time thing. That room is full of people dedicated to the cause and dedicated to seeing change in our community.”
Byrne says she believes more people will vote in the 2019 plebiscite because people will be voting alongside another ballot.
“I’m hopeful for change.”