Editor:
Re “Promise better broken” by Alan Donenfeld, Letters, Feb. 17.
Mr. Donenfeld is mistaken. The promise of electoral reform was a foundational promise that required leadership and vision to bring us further down the road to a healthier democracy.
Those of us who support proportional representation are not doing so to insure the election of the NDP or anyone else. We are doing so because it will give us a more balanced parliament that will better represent the views of all Canadians and produce a more civil and productive parliament.
Imagine a parliament that no longer is ruled by 39 per cent of the vote getting 100 per cent of the power.
Imagine a parliament in which parties must cooperate with each other because no one has all the power.
Imagine a parliament in which all major parties will have a good chance of having representatives from all parts of the country
Imagine no more swings from “right” to “left’” – no more parliaments in which whomever wins the election does its best to undo most of what has gone before.
Proportional representation has been recommended by Canadian parliamentary committees and royal commissions.
Extensive research over many years shows that well-crafted proportional representation systems produce more egalitarian societies, higher voter turnout, better long-term planning, less corporate control, political stability, better environmental protection, and, very importantly, low risk of a takeover by extremists.
Bet Cecill, Gibsons, Co-chair Alliance 4 Democracy
