Voting system fine as it is, says Conservative MP
Dan Albas argues for national referendum if Liberals propose any changes, but doesn’t see need for change
Canadians should be able to vote on how they vote, says Conservative MP Dan Albas.
A national referendum should be held before any changes are made to the socalled first-past-the-post voting system, Albas said on Sunday in Kelowna.
“To me, a referendum is the clearest way to go about it,” Albas told about 15 people who attended what he billed as a town hall meeting.
For his part, though, Albas said he doesn’t see the need to change the longstanding first-past-the-post voting system, in which the candidate who gets the most votes in a riding is declared the MP.
The electoral system has produced a succession of stable federal governments that has helped to make Canada the envy of countries around the world, Albas said.
The Liberal government has said the 2015 election will be the last one conducted under the current voting system, but has not yet indicated what will replace it.
Advocates of proportional representation say future seat distribution in Parliament should more closely reflect the national share of votes each of the parties receives in elections.
Albas made his comments in response to a statement from one of the town hall participants that she also preferred the current voting system.
Topics raised by other speakers at the Kelowna town hall, and a similar one Saturday in West Kelowna, included what was said to be the inequity of provinces providing differing levels of funded medical care, a suggestion that unemployed people be encouraged to join the military, various barriers to interprovincial trade and personal matters relating to immigration problems.
Although total attendance at the two town hall meetings was slight, despite Albas mailing an invitation to attend to all residents of the riding, he said the gatherings remained an important way for him to directly connect with constituents and be held accountable by them.
“I want to know what people’s priorities are, what they want to see their tax dollars devoted to,” Albas said in an interview.
“Sometimes in Ottawa, you get wound up with the issues there, but it’s really important my activities reflect people’s priorities here.
“On Twitter, on Facebook, with emails, some people may think I don’t even read what they send me, which is completely not true,” Albas said.
“But this is a public component, where people can come to a public meeting, hold me to account and tell me directly what’s important to them.”
Albas’s riding of Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola includes all of West Kelowna and a near-lake area of Kelowna with about 20,000 people.
The riding of Kelowna-Lake Country is represented by Liberal MP Stephen Fuhr.
“I really don’t think people in Kelowna are quite used yet to having two MPs,” Albas said. “That’s why it’s important for me to be attending meetings here, door-knocking and holding events like this town hall.”