Old voting system cheats us

Re: “You have a say on the way we vote,” Nov. 24. I’m really tired of the self-serving B.C. Liberals who behave like children in our legislature, cry “foul” when the duly elected government takes actions they see as threatening to their party’s interests, then pretend that there’s something unfair and undemocratic about what is going on.

The simple truth is that, though referred to as a “minority government,” the two parties forming government are backed by the majority of voters, a rare situation in B.C. They’re doing something unusual in the legislature — communicating, co-operating and collaborating in a way that features respect for others — something the Liberals should learn.

Liberal leadership hopefuls are all lined up together, opposing the just-announced process of electoral reform. The reform would greatly improve our ailing democracy, but Liberals try to claim voters are being cheated. Well, it’s only the old system that is cheating us, and Liberals hope it will again give them a dictatorial, false majority, even though they get nowhere near half the votes.

Liberals and media opponents of the reform process often claim that electoral reform was rejected by B.C. voters, which is so untrue. With recommendations from a citizens’ advisory panel, 58 per cent voted for change — that was a huge majority saying “yes.” B.C. Liberal governments ignored them.

No, don’t take my word for it. Check the facts out for yourselves — while you still have a chance to fix our broken political system. People seem to forget how badly first-past-the-post elections work out.

Diane Guthrie Victoria