Editor:
It is difficult to explain proportional representation in simple terms, but the injustice of our electoral system is glaring.
In the last election the Conservatives won 39.6 per cent of the total votes cast, but only 60 per cent of those eligible to vote did so. Forty per cent did not exercise their right. The Conservatives thus won a majority with only 24 per cent of the Canadians who could have voted.
Voter abandonment is the most deadly threat to our democracy. It is supported by angst: “Maybe I’ll vote for the wrong party/person who won’t act as I think they will; maybe my vote will elect a party I don’t want; I don’t want to vote negatively against something; too much corruption so why bother?”
Vote splitting is a red herring. First, the polls are increasingly inaccurate. They recently failed in both B.C. and Alberta. Second, analysts use previous election results to make predictions. None, for example, thought the Greens would win federally or in B.C. and New Brunswick provincially because they were a distant fourth beforehand. Third, federal elections have forever been decided by the vote in Central Canada. Only twice since Confederation has the difference in seats between the two leading parties been less than 12, so voting federally in B.C. for the party which supports your values would be unlikely to tip the scales in favour of any party.
Democracy in Canada, as we knew it, is in trouble. Vote for the party which supports proportional representation, coalition, compromise and cooperation. I appeal to the forty per cent. Your vote can bring democracy back to life.
Nancy Leathley, West Sechelt
