Nevermind all the fear mongering and disinformation being put forth in referendum “discussion.” And never mind the consistently distorted results inherent in our present voting process. It all comes down to just two things; money and power.
Access to government is easiest under FPTP since it requires lobbying only a handful of politicians (mostly cabinet members) – legislation can be written before hand, presented and passed with minimal scrutiny.
With proportional representation all of that will change. It would become necessary to appeal to a larger audience – constituents – and then properly and openly debate the issues before anything gets passed. More involved? Yes but it’s transparent, the results will be fair.
FPTP was used effectively in an era when only male landholders were allowed to vote and there were only two parties in the running. Our society has advanced since then.
If you like the authoritarian style of government in the US and now spilling over into Canada (Ontario) and think that would be good for us here in BC then by all means vote no.
If however you think enough is enough and want to hang onto what we can still call our own then be democratic and vote yes to electoral reform.
Anton Niedersteiner
Kamloops, B.C.
