Prop rep makes every vote count

Dear editor: We much appreciated John Dorn’s balanced look at the implications for proportional representation for the Okanagan region (Herald, Opinion, Aug. 21) and would like to add the following.

It’s true that if we think in terms of the right-left divide, that if one side splits the vote (the VC Greens and the NDP) this will tend to favour one side over the other (the BC Liberals in this case). This is bad democracy, pure and simple, since it means that one side can and does acquire power with less than a majority of the vote.

We saw this play out very graphically in Ontario in the recent provincial election. Proportional representation would redress that balance and in the immediate term, this would seem to favour the formation of NDP-Green coalitions.

However the parties will likely adjust to these new circumstances and could do so in time for the next provincial election. What we predict is that the BC Conservatives will start winning seats and the BC Liberals will shift a bit more to the centre to capture the middle ground.

With four rather than three parties to choose from, B.C. voters will have more choice than ever, and coalitions of different shapes and hues could be countenanced. The way they voted in the past does not tell us very much about the future in this respect.

It’s important to understand that proportional representation is not a partisan game. It is about empowering the voter by making every vote count as best we can to elect a representative.

John misses another important point when it comes to the balance of rural and urban representation in the legislature.

Let us begin by answering his question about mixed member and how it works (whether by itself or as part of the ruralurban model). Normally, voters would have two votes, and they might vote for candidates from the same party in each case, as John assumes. Not always, but let’s say. However, the way the top-up seats work is that they are assigned in a compensatory way.

If one party wins more than its share of the seats locally, the other parties will get a greater share of the top-up seats, to ensure that the result is proportional overall.

So what you end up with for rural areas in the Interior is that all parties would be represented in proportion to votes cast.

In other words, voters would be represented in both government and in the opposition.

Furthermore, there would be a group of MLAs elected specifically from each region. There is unlikely to be any need for a regional party in this system because each region will be well represented in every legislative caucus.

Kelly Hutchinson, Fair Vote Canada BC, Kelowna