Editor:
OMG, my head hurts. The mechanics of Proportional Representation – yikes. Kind of like if the truck salesman tried to explain how my truck computer works when what I really want to know is: will it start easily, what kind of mileage will I get, are the brakes good, how is it off road/on the highway …?
In short: I want to know results! With Proportional Representation: I want to know if my views will be represented. I want to know if the government will be stable and not lurch from one ideological pole to another. I want to know if the legislators will cooperate with one another and do reasonable long-term planning. I want to know if the government will continue to function while coalitions are forming. I want to know if individual MLAs are accountable to the voter … I want results!
The facts are: First Past the Post is the only system in which you can get 100 per cent of the power with way less than 50 per cent of the vote – 39 per cent to be exact in the last two federal elections.
Our First Past the Post system delivers toxic adversarial politics, policy lurch when the governing party changes, low voter turnout, poor accountability, and strategic voting against a party instead of for what you want.
Extensive academic research has shown that PR systems deliver better results. PR systems deliver better long-range planning, less policy swing from government to government, more accurate representation of the voters, better voter turnout, more accountability to the voter and less corporate control of policy.
Bet Cecill, Gibsons
