B.C. referendum will have a broad impact

Pass or fail, Canada is watching, write Maxwell A. Cameron and Megan Dias.

By the end of the week, British Columbia could approve the adoption of a voting system based on the principle of proportional representation. Over the past several months, British Columbians have been participating in a referendum on whether we should change the way we vote. We know that the stakes are high: we are voting on a key feature of our democratic institutions. And the rest of the country is watching.

The whole process started in May 2017, when the NDP formed a minority government in B.C., with the support of the Green party. The support of the Greens came with conditions, including an insistence that electoral reform be put to a referendum in the fall of 2018. This is something the NDP had campaigned on, as well, so agreement was not hard to reach.

In a report by the attorney general of B.C., the details of the referendum were released. The referendum was to be conducted through mailin ballots. Instead of going to polling stations, voters would have ballots mailed out to them, they would fill them out, and then mail it back.

The referendum question was divided into two parts. The first part is pretty straightforward: do we want to “keep the current First Past the Post voting system or move to a system of proportional representation.”

The second part presented three different proportional systems, and voters are asked to rank them. If the first question passes, and B.C. moves to a system of proportional representation, some version of the highest-ranked option out of these three systems will be adopted.

It is important to note that proportional representation is a principle, not a system. Proportional representation is the idea that parties should win a number of seats in a legislature that is proportionate to the number of votes they have won. If a party wins 40 per cent of the votes in an election, it should be entitled to 40 per cent of the seats.

There are several voting systems that get us to this kind of proportional result. The three on the ballot in B.C. are dual member proportional, mixed member proportional and rural-urban proportional.

Mixed member proportional might ring a bell to some. It has been suggested as an alternative electoral system several times in Canada and was on the ballot when Ontario voted on electoral reform in 2007. Mixed member proportional is used in countries like New Zealand and Germany.

Rural-urban proportional is less well-known, although it combines two familiar systems. In this system, rural voters cast ballots under a mixed-member proportional system. Urban areas will vote under a proportional system called single transferable vote, which was proposed in B.C. in 2005 and again in 2009. The idea behind using these two systems is to ensure proportional results, while not diluting local representation in large, rural ridings.

Dual member proportional has not been implemented anywhere yet. It was created by Sean Graham, a graduate student at the University of Alberta, and uses binomial ridings. Most ridings would merge and have two MLAs. Voters would choose a candidate or a pair of candidates on the ballot.

According to the B.C. NDP government, these systems were chosen because they all ensure proportional results, maintained local representation, were simple to understand, and would not significantly increase the size of the legislature.

Ultimately, the referendum in B.C. could have several different implications for the rest of Canada. If proportional representation passes, this would be historic. It would suggest that minority governments are more likely to make electoral reform happen. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, with a majority government, couldn’t keep their promise to make “2015 the last election under FPTP.” For those who fear minority governments can’t get things done, this could be a piece of evidence to the contrary.

Success could also galvanize support for electoral reform in other provinces. If B.C. moves to a proportional system, and it seems to be going well, other provinces might follow suit.

We have seen this logic at play at the municipal level. When certain municipalities in Ontario switched electoral systems, it sparked interest among other municipalities.

Even if proportional representation is defeated, there will be important lessons to be learned from the process. On the one hand, a third defeat would take the wind out of the sails of election reform efforts for some time to come. Although this would be disheartening for reformers, it would probably lead those who feel our democracy is underperforming to look to other ways to improve our democracy, including parliamentary reform and reform of political parties.

Perhaps most importantly, this process shows that we need to look at ways of improving voter engagement and participation through the systematic use of participatory innovations like citizens’ assemblies, citizen juries and participatory budgeting. Too often politicians punt hard issues to voters — Brexit comes to mind — instead of recognizing that complex issues require more than partisan and polarized debates. They require broad and deep public engagement guided by a search for common ground.