Coalition could be proportional representation test run

Throughout their May 12 column, Lydia Miljan, Jason Clemens and Taylor Jackson — all of the Fraser Institute — use political myths and falsehoods about proportional representation to imply that our current first-past-the-post voting system is superior.

But that system may allow a party that received about 40 per cent of the vote in the B.C. election on May 9 to win a majority of seats and allow them to ram through policies a majority of electors rejected.

This is superior? How is it even democratic?

The authors make the unsupported claim that countries using proportional representation have “higher levels of government spending and larger deficits” than firstpast-the-post. Political scientist Arend Lijphart, who appeared as an expert witness before the Canadian parliamentary committee studying electoral reform, refutes that notion, saying it “is proven beyond any doubt … conventional wisdom is clearly wrong in claiming that majoritarian democracies are the better governors.”

Pure democracy is premised on the principle that the majority opinion should prevail in governance. In the real world, there can be a wide range of possible solutions to complex problems. Frequently, arriving at a unified decision requires careful negotiations and compromise, but it shouldn’t involve a denial of the principle of majority rule.

We usually either have “false” majority governments or loosely agreed-to minority ones in Canada, whereas with proportional representation most governments are formal coalitions of parties, something rather rare here.

The Fraser authors see the emergence of a vigorous Green party in the negative, noting that about 80 per cent of the electorate rejected their policies and speculate that in a minority-government situation it’s possible the Greens might push for their policy of a $70-per-tonne carbon tax by 2021 as a prerequisite for their support.

They add that “this disproportional policy influence from smaller parties” can be expected with proportional representation.

Looking positively, the vote percentages May 9 affirmed that just under 60 per cent of voters — those who backed the NDP or Greens — supported parties that pushed for an increase in the carbon tax. Some supported $50 and others $70, some by 2021 and others by 2022. Concurrently, a plurality of 40 per cent of the voters were OK with the B.C. Liberals, who set the carbon tax at $30.

A nuanced political negotiation is more likely with proportional representation, so it’s just as possible an accord between the Greens and the NDP might involve a middle-ground increase of the tax to $60 by 2022.

Almost 60 per cent of voters supported the Greens and the Liberals, who may form an alliance. The middle ground between those two could well be gradually meeting the federal Liberal government target of $50 per tonne by 2022. In both possible alliances, the resulting compromise is more moderate than the extremes of either a freeze at $30 or $70 by 2021.

With talk of a real coalition government happening in B.C. for the first time in 65 years, there could well be a teachable moment here, one where British Columbians learn how effective and stable a coalition government might be if delivered by a proportional representation system.

Our politicians, who are used to more confrontational first-past-thepost politics, have little experience with compromise between parties and may not get it exactly right with this unexpected opportunity for a coalition. However, I suspect they’ll be fast learners in any new political reality, just as politicians discovered in New Zealand, where they successfully switched to proportional representation 20 years ago.