Dear Editor:

I wish to thank Mr. Timothy Jones for responding to my statements that First Past the Post (FPTP) remains the best electoral system for Canada and welcome his joining a debate that has been unfortunately submerged beneath the Trudeau government’s higher-profile activities in other matters.

He cites statistics he believes support a change to some type of proportional representation. However, his numbers fail to address the fundamental wrong with proportional representation, as it applies specifically to the Canadian situation.

Jones does acknowledge my thesis that supporters of electoral change do so because their platform(s) make them unelectable with FPTP.

However, he ignores the real reason they wish to change the electoral system.

It has nothing to do with making their views known in Parliament and everything to do with seizing power and influence over our government.

By party, Canadians’ voting preferences tend to be concentrated in fairly narrow ranges and one would suspect would continue regardless of our electoral system.

Therefore, there is a real probability that those parties that would be otherwise unelectable could end up as kingmakers in a minority coalition and effectively blackmail the coalition into pursuing the agenda that makes them unelectable in the first place.

Perhaps I could cite some numbers of my own.

As an example, the NDP’s share of the popular vote since 1970 has been in a narrow range, averaging 17 per cent, and very little changed even if the 2011 spike to 30.6 per cent is ignored).

Jones objects to the  “false majority” obtained by the Liberals with 39.5 per cent of the popular vote in the 2015 election.

If they thought about it at all, I believe most Canadians would prefer being governed with a party garnering 39.5 percent of the vote, rather than risking living with the tyranny of the 17-per centers.

I request all concerned Canadians to please contact the Hon. Maryam Monsef, federal Minister for Democratic Institutions, requesting retention of the FPTP status quo.

Ken Murray

Osoyoos, B.C.