Time to move B.C. politics ahead
Dear editor: This week marks a historic milestone in B.C. politics and maybe, just maybe, we're on the cusp of another historic milestone.
On Jan. 24, 1918, Mary Ellen Smith became the first woman elected to the B.C. legislature. She went on to have a long career in politics, affecting positive change for women and children.
This year, in New Zealand, newly elected Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern just announced she’s pregnant.
The phrase, “You've come a long way, baby,” takes on a whole new meaning, that is, to be born to a sitting female prime minister.
In B.C. in 1917, after a decades long and enduring campaign, the suffragette movement finally triumphed to get women the vote at the provincial level.
As we celebrate feminism in its many aspects, as millions of us around the world participate in the Women's March, it should not be lost on anyone that women are again leading the campaign to get a proportional voting system in B.C. and Canada. It is the next milestone to improve our democracy. Do you like numbers? Check these out. New Zealand was one of the first countries to grant the voting franchise to women in 1893. A century later, New Zealand adopted a proportional voting system.
B.C. voters granted women the right to vote in 1918. This year, B.C. is holding a referendum on proportional representation.
Perhaps it's a good omen. Ann Remnant Nelson