Defenders of the Status Quo writers like The Province’s Mike…



Defenders of the Status Quo writers like The Province’s Mike Smyth tell us:

Keep in mind British Columbians have already voted in two earlier referendums on proportional representation. The idea was voted down both times.

57.7% of BC Voters voted to adopt the BC-STV voting system recommended by the BC Citizen’s Assembly [download PDF of the Final Report

Not what I would consider “voted down” ~ especially in a winner-take-all system that routinely delivers majority governments with minority support.  

BC governments don’t need 60% of the vote to form government.  

In 2017, Ms Christy Clark’s Liberal MLA’s secured only 43 seats; they needed 44 seats to claim a majority government.  Ms. Clark tried very hard to woo Green Party support; had she had succeeded, she could have formed a minority government based on only 40.36% of the votes cast for Liberal MLAs.

The NDP won only 41 seats… but they did it with 40.28%

That’s a difference of only .08% of the votes the parties earned ~ 1,566 votes ~
but it meant a difference of 2 seats.

Meanwhile the BC Green Party won the “balance of responsibility” … they worked out a supply and confidence agreement that allowed the BC NDP to form a minority government.  

Here’s hoping they deliver the good people of BC electoral reform. to Proportional Representation!