‘No’ side is lying, gloves are off

Dear Editor:3 The ‘no’ side is lying and the gloves are coming off!

Politics today are all about power and control, and first-past-the-post was designed to produce a two-party system that consistently gives all the power to one party.

I am ex-military – infantry – I was a Sergeant, and I love hand grenades.

Proportional representation is like a political fragmentation grenade. It will blow our current political power structure to smithereens, and give it back to the people — one vote at a time.

I prefer the multi-member system because it gives the voters more choices. They will have two votes, one party vote and one vote to elect a candidate.

In other words, we can remind the candidates that while we are free to vote for our party of choice, they can no longer take our vote for granted, because we can in fact vote for any of the candidates on the ballot, and that is how party and government leaders will lose control over our elected members.

Another compelling reason for choosing a proportional system of government is that the amount of power awarded any party is consistent with the popular vote.

A party that get 23 per cent of the popular vote will get 23 per cent of the seats in the Legislature.

A PR system will always include several political parties and elections usually produce minority or coalition governments. That promotes stability and predictability, because all parties know that regardless of who forms the next government, they know they will be working together to function as a government.

That in essence is democracy in action. People working together to provide the best government for the people who elected them. Andy Thomsen

Kelowna