Put the power back in your vote
I voted for a system of proportional representation in the referendum and I urge others to do the same. Having grown up in Ireland, I voted for rural-urban PR because this is the choice that gives voters the most power.
I don’t know mixed-member proportional (which is the rural component) but single transferable vote in urban locations (where most people live anyway) will give voters unrivalled power to shape their representation. In Victoria, we might have five or six MLAs in big, citywide ridings. Perhaps two to three New Democrats and one to two Conservatives or Liberals and a Green. Over 90 per cent of our viewpoints would be represented and each one of us would have an MLA of our stripe within walking distance representing us.
This is not the case in FPTP and it never will be. You can spend your entire life voting Liberal or Conservative or NDP nationally and never contribute to electing anyone, even if you are part of a 30 per cent minority in your riding.
Ireland, with the same population (but much younger) as B.C., has many more people voting at elections. Ireland is almost always governed from centre left or centre right, and the far left and far right are frozen out. This is because of the transferable vote.
So, please vote for rural-urban, drop the ballot off at one of the facilities, get represented by one of your choices and put the power back in your vote.
Brian White Victoria