Majority won’t run roughshod

Dear editor: Attention B.C. voters. Here are a few reasons I believe why we need to reject the current first past the post and to express my support for proportional representation here in B.C.

It is an established fact that the current first past the post often leaves well over half of the population at the mercy of the decisions of the minority.

No majority party will be able to run roughshod over the minority with PR, no one political party will be able to impose 100 per cent of their ideology on the public.

With the minority government situation here, the BC-NDP have had to temper down some of their policies (i.e. the speculation tax.) Also, the Greens wanted to bring in PR without a referendum, but had to compromise.

When does a majority government ever make a compromise?

Doug Ford received only 40 per cent of the vote (60 per cent of the Ontario voters opposed) and he now he has 100 per cent of the power. Ford cancelled the minimum wage increase and is eliminating provincial employees’ sick days, cancelled the Basic Income Pilot project, killed the cap and-trade policy, cancelled the Green Ontario Fund, to make energy-efficient upgrades to their homes and businesses, and the $100-million school repair program. Ford made cuts to Ontario’s Pharmacare program, delayed the stronger police oversight and he fired Ontario’s first-ever chief scientist and Ontario’s chief investment officer.

Ford punished Toronto City Hall and Torontonians in a vindictive piece of legislation just two months before the municipal election by slashing the number of councillors from 47 to 25.

Was this revenge for rejecting his brother Rob Ford and then for himself when he ran unsuccessfully for mayor?

Remember Brian Mulroney’s PC government when he shoved the GST down our throats?

Right here in B.C., we can remember Gordon Campbell, trying to bring the HST in without taking it to the people. How much did that cost to defeat that undemocratic move?

Just because we have always elected our governments, usually with a minority of voters under FPTP, does not mean we can’t try a system that most of the rest of the world finds the most democratic.

Vote for proportional representation. There will be another referendum after two elections to under PR to see if it should be changed back to FPTP.

Don Aitken Kelowna