Electoral system old-fashioned

I’m 85 years old. I won’t be here much longer. I’m leaving a big batch of descendants behind, and I don’t want to leave them hornswoggled by the disguised dictatorship of first-past-the-post which has left me unrepresented in my governments for most of my federal and provincial votes.

I want to leave them with an honest, fair representation every time they vote, so that they feel their vote is important. They may not find themselves in whatever group wins the largest number of seats in every election, but the group they align themselves with in values should have an influence in all resulting legislation. In other words, I want them to live in a truly representative democracy.

Far too late in life I have come to realize that the wish I have for them and their peers is impossible to achieve unless every vote in our increasingly complex society has an equal value in apportioning seats in our legislative chambers. Big parties or small parties, whether their values align or not with yours, should have an equal chance to be heard.

Retirement gives you time to realize how poorly our old fashioned first past the post system has served most of us. Oh yes, it has served the moneyed very well, but it has ignored the needs and wishes of our poorer majority. The inequality it has nurtured has reached the level we should be ashamed of in a true democracy.

Only proportional representation can modernize our outdated system. It is the richest legacy we can leave those who follow.

Ian MacKenzie

Kamloops