Electoral reform shouldn’t be decided by minority, says BC Liberal leader
Andrew Wilkinson argues result of B.C. referendum shouldn’t be binding unless at least 40% of voters return ballots
Andrew Wilkinson believes anything below 40-per-cent participation should not be binding in the B.C. referendum on proportional representation.
“There’s no minimum requirement. The NDP resisted our question a year ago,” the BC Liberal leader said in an interview Friday with The Okanagan Weekend.
Voters are being asked whether they want to maintain the existing first-pastthe-post system or switch to proportional representation for provincial elections.
Elections BC said Friday about 597,300 ballot packages have been returned so far, representing 18 per cent of registered voters.
The mail-in ballots must be received by Nov. 30.
“Seeing these weak returns, this concerns us deeply,” said Wilkinson. “This is about our whole basis of democracy. I’ve said anything under 40 per cent raises real concerns about the process. I’m encouraging people to get out and vote because their future and rights of citizens are in question.”
Wilkinson spent Friday in Kelowna, connecting with city and area officials as well as “asking people their impressions of proportional representation.”
Wilkinson is uncertain as to why so few people have filled out their mail-in ballots. He’s encouraging citizens to keep first past the post and to answer only the first of two questions on the referendum ballot.
“Perhaps it’s a lack of information or people are still making up their minds,” he said. “This referendum has been poorly managed by the NDP and in a biased way. There are two dozen features left to the unknown, that are to be determined in the future. It’s a leap into the dark to change the basis of our democracy.”
Wilkinson was unhappy with last week’s leaders’ debate between he and John Horgan. The 30-minute debate, televised live on Global and CBC, dealt solely with the referendum.
“It was frustrating because there were a lot of different issues and we didn’t get to any of them because John Horgan just wanted to talk for a half an hour and in general platitudes.”
Wilkinson believes the referendum is emotional.
“The Fair Vote people seem to think they’ve found the way to utopia and the rest of us are misled. People supporting first past the post are respectful of other people’s choice.”
When asked what he considers to be the No. 2 issue in B.C. at the moment, Wilkinson chose the economy.
“The economy has been functioning well, but the state of the world is changing and there’s a lot of adverse developments in the U.S. and internationally,” he said. “Interest rates are creeping up and the effect of the speculation tax is certainly being felt here in the Okanagan. There’s no guarantee the future is going to be as good as the present, and we have to be crisply focused on this.
“We’re concerned the NDP agenda has little or nothing for the economy.”