PR nixed by 71% in Central Okanagan
Liberal MLA says people voted to keep system they know and trust
The province’s current voting system was favoured by 71 per cent of Central Okanagan residents who cast ballots in the electoral reform referendum.
That margin of support was considerably above the provincial mark of 61.3 per cent of British Columbians who voted to retain first past the post.
People sensibly opted to retain the voting system they’ve long used and trusted rather than experiment with proportional representation, says Kelowna West Liberal MLA Ben Stewart.
“It’s a system we’ve all grown up with and it’s one we trust,” Stewart said.
“It might not be perfect, but it’s one that gives us stable government.”
By contrast, he said, the proportional representation options offered to voters were confusing, would have led to a lack of direct contact between voters and their representative, and raised the spectre of endless and unstable coalition governments.
This was the third time in 13 years that British Columbians have rejected proportional representation, noted Kelowna-Lake Country Liberal MLA Norm Letnick.
“The 71 per cent support for first past the post in the Central Okanagan is a clear signal that after three referenda, we need to find another way to improve our democracy that doesn’t compromise the direct relationship between voters and their MLA,” Letnick said.
First past the post was supported by 70.6 per cent of voters in Kelowna-Mission, 71 per cent in KelownaLake Country and 70 per cent in Kelowna West.
The current voting system won a majority of support in all but 15 of British Columbia’s 85 ridings in referendum results announced Thursday by Elections BC.
Total voter turnout in the mail-in referendum was put at 42.6 per cent.
“I’m disappointed, of course,” said Terry Robertson, a Kelowna man who was active with Fair Vote Canada, a pro-PR group.
“It hurt that there were no PR people on the Liberal side, and they had nothing positive to say about PR,” Robertson said.
“Unfortunately, I think a lot of people swallowed the line, hook and sinker that PR would lead to Nazis marching in the street and that radicals would take over the legislature, both of which of course are completely false,” Robertson said.
Despite the third failure of the proportional representation movement at the ballot box, Robertson says a change to first past the post is inevitable.
Other electoral reforms, such as women’s right to vote and the secret ballot, took a while to be implemented after first being championed, he said.