Saturday, January 17, 2009

G&M: B.C. forecast - an NDP government and STV

I encourage everyone to read a Globe and Mail column by Gordon Gibson about the referendum on the Single Transferable Vote in British Columbia. He also writes about BC's NDP. Feel free to make comments below his column.

One commenter, Craig Anthony, wrote:

STV provides:
- fairness for voters
- fairness for parties
- fairness for MLAs
- more effective local representation,
- more voter choice,
- more accountability,
- better rural representation,
- better representation of women,
- more power to the voters and less to the politically connected,
- more consensual governing,
- more stable government because of less drastic policy swings between governments,
- a better investment, business and labour climate,
- and voters deciding how they want to be governed.

People who support FPTP evidently don’t want these things. Who wouldn’t want these things? Obviously, people who don't know enough about it or who personally benefit from the current system.

If you want these things, support BC-STV.

This is an exciting time for democracy. This is a chance for voters to have a say.


I agree.

5 comments:

susansmith said...

great on both accounts.

Idealistic Pragmatist said...

Man, I hope you're right.

Although I have to say, if we do get STV, it will be through no effort of that hypothetical NDP government.

Bill Tieleman said...

Sorry to disagree but STV would be a disaster for BC, not a panacea.

Please take a look at what the NO side says about STV http://www.knowstv.ca/ because the facts paint a very different picture than what Gordon Gibsons claims.

We would lose local representation with huge STV ridings combining several existing constituencies - the Victoria area would have 7 MLAs, for example.

More women? Check Malta and Ireland - the only two countries in the world that use STV as their national electoral system - and they have far less women elected than in Ottawa or BC!

I urge you to check the facts, not the rhetoric, about STV - the more you know the less likely you are to support this strange system.

James Gilmour said...

In response to Bill Tieleman:

1. The riding may elect 7 MLAs, but if the voters value local representation they will vote for the candidates by locality as well as by party. That way the MLAs will be even more closely tied to their local constituents than ever they could be under FPTP in single-member ridings.

2. Malta and Ireland are two extremely patriarchal and Patriarchal societies, so it should be no surprise they have fewer women candidates and elect fewer women members of parliament. Candidate choice is determined by the political parties and not by the voting system.

Skinny Dipper said...

Thanks to all that commented. Thanks to Bill for commenting even though you and I are on opposite sides of the track. I do encourage discussion and debate.