Liberal leader must embrace PR

Dear editor: A couple of days ago I watched Andrew Wilkinson, the newly-elected BC Liberal leader, as he was replying to some penetrating questions in an interview with Global.

To one question about why he was so critical of proportional representation, he replied:

1. that first-past-the-post was a system that had worked well in the past at establishing “majority” governments and, anyhow, 2. Nobody was asking for a change to PR. I was astounded that the Liberals had elected a man who was stuck so far in the past. Here is a man who ignores the fact that what he calls “majority” governments elected by first-past-the-post quite commonly receive only about 40 per cent of the popular vote. We call these “false majorities” which have produced false democracy for Canada in 12 of the 16 “majority” governments since the First World War.

They have completely discarded the wishes of 60 per cent of the voters and Wilkinson considers this an electoral system that works well for democracy.

Ignoring 60 per cent of your constituents is democratic? Come on, it’s time for change.

As Andrew Coyne of the National Post points out: “The present electoral system creates a wholly false image of the country, based on illusory majorities and exaggerated regionalism, as harmful to the legitimacy of government as it is to national unity.”

And as for nobody asking for change, exactly the opposite is the case. Almost all democracies, realizing their mistake, have, by demand, switched to some form of PR. Just a partial list I can find adds up to 32, and none have returned to first-past-the-post.

The only long-term, so-called democracies still using the undemocratic first-past-thepost are the U.S., U.K., and Canada. And make no mistake, Canada is increasingly demanding the change to PR despite our prime minister’s partisan change of heart.

Wilkinson’s insistence on FPTP is because our past reliance on a basically two- party system is no longer appropriate. Our population has many more points of view that must be reflected in our governing houses, not just the mouldy memories of Wilkinson.

Only PR will make all those points of view and votes count. Certainly the party Wilkinson now leads will clearly use any degree of misinformation to keep us from voting for PR I know Robert Stupka of the Green Party, who I have recently had the privilege of speaking with, has both the wit and background to support it. Ian MacKenzie West Kelowna