Editor:
In last week’s letter, “Voting system vulnerable,” Bette Chadwick warns that swing voters can be easily swayed by targeted social media and proposes proportional representation (PR) as a best defence.
I wonder if Ms. Chadwick has considered that swing voters may be the only ones prepared to vote based on current information rather than rigid ideology alone.
Does Ms. Chadwick realize that just by virtue of her social media contacts, the advertisers and political parties already know all they require to target her (they don’t need her private data)? How does she know that she is not being manipulated now? Perhaps by those trying to convince her there is a “problem” and that PR is the “solution” to it?
Some accept as gospel that PR produces a more “inclusive” government; for others it’s obvious that PR disproportionately empowers fringe voters. With PR in place, what prevents the appearance of extremist Bloc-type parties in various localities, thereby further regionalizing Canada and calling its existence into question?
Alan Donenfeld, Gibsons
