Dear Editor:
The Editorial (“Our Opinion”) in the Oct. 10 edition of the Osoyoos Times cries out for rebuttal.
Why would a “mail-in” ballot be less effective than having to get out to a specific voting place at a certain time on the specified day to cast a ballot?
Research has shown that it’s actually the first past the post (FPTP) voting system in which so many votes are just simply “wasted” which causes the frustration and feelings of disenfranchisement, which in turn results in the apathy and low voter turnout which we have increasingly seen in Canadian elections.
What is “overly simplistic” about the idea that the amount of support a party receives at the polls should be reflected in the seats that a party has in a legislature? What is comforting about having a party that receives less that 40 per cent of the vote having 100 per cent of the power? FPTP, apparently favoured by the Osoyoos Times, does just that!
Extremism? With proportional representation, extremist parties are in plain sight. Better to have them in the open (not hiding under “big tent” parties) and deal with them at election time.
Elections under PR have a minimum cut-off (five per cent) and any “fringe” or “mini-party” who received less support than the cut-off would not be represented. (Note that in the last federal election, the support that the dozen or so “extremist” parties that ran candidates, when COMBINED, received less than one per cent of the votes cast.
Furthermore, extremists (remember Kelly Leitch?) are already in the “big tent” parties. Harper courted them and Scheer has more than his share of bigots and white power extremists!
It must be pointed out that Trump and more recently Ontario’s Doug Ford are “products” of the FPTP voting system!
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but no one is entitled to their own facts! It’s perhaps not surprising, but still disappointing to find out that our small town weekly newspaper is publishing “fake news”! The final paragraph of “Our Opinion” is pure scare tactics and is completely unsupported.
An opinion not backed up with facts is just an opinion and shouldn’t be the basis of anything so important as the decision to be made by the province’s referendum.
A little research will go a long way to allowing an informed decision! The Globe and Mail recently editorialized in support of electoral reform and noted Conservative commentator Andrew Coyne provides compelling evidence that Canada (and B.C.) need a system of proportional representation. His pieces are easily found with Google and are well worth the effort!
Most important as a means to learn about proportional representation is an impartial “Fact Checker” which investigates claims made about proportional representation by opponents (such as the Osoyoos Times), proponents (such as the undersigned), and media columnists (such as Andrew Coyne). This information is easily found at www.prorepfactcheck.ca. If you do no other research (and you should) you should definitely check out this website!
Finally a full description of what the referendum is all about can be found at www.elections.bc.ca/referendum.
Incidentally, there’s nothing obscure or risky about modernizing our voting system to improve democracy. To be sure, our referendum comes with a guarantee! If after a couple of elections using PR, B.C. citizens will be able to revert to the present system. You can’t get much fairer than that!
Thank you for letting me provide your readers with another side to the referendum question.
David Smith,
Osoyoos, B.C.
Editor’s note: As you say, people are entitled to their opinions, but not their own facts. To call the “Fact Checker” website “impartial” is not accurate. It’s sponsored by Fair Vote Canada BC, which is a pro-PR lobby group and is hardly impartial.
PR is going to fail because it’s the brainchild of the NDP and the Greens and most people are already sick of their crap.
The end.
Tough call as to the success of this referendum. I’ve always been happy with the FPTP system, but the actions of the previous provincial gov’t suggest I’ve been in error. Locally, we have a population weighted in favour of the seniors, as they outnumber the younger portion of the populace. With that in mind, there will be certain resistance to change. Understandable, because as we age, we do NOT wish to make any changes that will mess with the status quo. Why bother? I’m going to bother because I’m sick of our two party system, as it stands now. Otherwise, we get gov’ts that loot our crown corporations, relax safety standards, and allow mining and logging in prov. parks (reputedly) and do what they want, with impunity. But, that’s just me. Lots of others seem quite happy with that situation. And those are the folks that will vote for FPTP. But, if we wish to have a responsible government, there have to be some checks and balances. One quick look south of the 49th will confirm that. So consider this vote carefully, and remember your kids are affected as well as your neighbours. An opportunity to make improvements where they’re needed. And it may help to keep in mind the Green Party already has much more clout, in that they hold key votes, already, and this is a FPTP gov’t. Complaining about them is foolish when a couple of seats have more power than their proportion dictates. Think first, folks.