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!