Talk of the Town

Redesigning Democracy, Single Transferable Vote and How We Elect Our MLA’s

Thu. Feb. 24, 7:30 - 9:00 pm

With: Shoni Field & David Wills, Members of the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, Bill Tieleman, Georgia Straight Columnist and political commentator and Andrea Reimer, Vancouver School Board Trustee and Director of the Vancouver Green Party

Although there has been little substantial electoral reform at either the federal or provincial level in Canada for decades, it seems as though the time for change may have come. A Commission on Legislative Democracy has recommended a new voting system for New Brunswick. Quebec has announced a draft bill for a mixed proportional voting system. The Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform in British Columbia has recommended moving to the Single Transferable Vote and the proposal will be put to referendum in May 2005. Following in B.C.’s footsteps, Ontario has announced their own Citizens’ Assembly, which will begin work later in 2005. And in November 2005 Prince Edward Island will hold a plebiscite on adopting a mixed proportional voting system.

Critics of the current first-past-the-post system where the candidate with the most votes in each riding is elected, refer to the votes that go to a losing candidate as “wasted votes”. They believe the current system does not truly embody representative democracy. This observation comes from Fair Vote Canada:

“In the last federal election, more than a half-million Green Party voters across the country elected no one. Meanwhile, fewer than a half-million Liberal voters in Atlantic Canada alone elected 23 MPs. Saskatchewan voters elected 11 Conservative MPs and Quebec elected none, even though almost twice as many voted Conservative in Quebec. In the prairie provinces, Liberals cast half as many votes as Conservatives, but elected only one-seventh as many MPs. So much for voter equality and the right to representation.”

At the end of their deliberations the Citizens’ Assembly in B.C. decided to recommend a change from first-past-the-post, to the single transferable vote (STV) system. The entire process is well documented at their web site (http://www.citizensassembly.bc.ca/public), but here are their conclusions:

“The Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform says the new proportional electoral system it proposes for B.C. will improve the practice of democracy in the province.

"Election results will be fairer, reflecting a balance between votes and seats, voters will have more choice and candidates will work harder to earn their support," says the final report of the Assembly, Making Every Vote Count: The Case for Electoral Reform in British Columbia.

"Political parties will remain at the centre of the electoral process, but they will give up some of the excesses of party discipline and the adversarial style that alienates many voters. The Legislative Assembly will be strengthened in its ability to hold governments accountable."

Bill Tieleman is a political commentator who has written a number of columns in the Georgia Straight highly critical of STV. In a column entitled Single Transferable Vote Equals Multiple Problems he says:

“The short version of criticism of STV is that it is complicated, confusing, prone to errors and delay, and not truly proportional, and that it reduces local accountability, increases party control, and allows special interests to dominate party nominations.

On May 17th voters in British Columbia will have the opportunity to decide which electoral system they prefer. On February 24th Talk of the Town will hear the arguments for and against making a change and give audience members a chance to ask questions about the issues that concern them.

The discussion will take place at UBC Robson Square. Attendance is free of charge, but please pre-register at info.talkofthetown@ubc.ca or phone 604.822.5675.

Panelists

Bill Tieleman writes Political Connections, a weekly column on BC politics in the Georgia Straight newspaper and appears regularly on radio and television. He was previously communications director in the B.C. Premier's Office and also at the BC Federation of Labour. For the past six years Bill has run West Star Communications, a consulting firm providing strategy and communication services for labour, business, non-profits and government agencies. He holds a masters degree in political science from UBC.

SHONI FIELD was born in Leicester, England and has lived in B.C. since age three. Shoni works as a fundraiser for non-profit associations. She is married and has a 20 month-old son. Shoni, who graduated from Simon Fraser University with a major in communications and a minor in political science, says she’s had a lifelong interest in political processes and was very excited to serve on the Citizen’s Assembly.

DAVID WILLS was born in Margate, England and after completing his PhD in theoretical physics at Oxford University, he made a career change to computers. David has lived in B.C. since 1974 and is a computer systems consultant. He is married, lives in Vancouver and has a grown son. David sees the Assembly as "a bold experiment in democracy that hopefully will resolve the issue of electoral reform for the foreseeable future."

ANDREA REIMER is a Vancouver School Board trustee and a Director of the Vancouver Green Party, Executive Director of Western Canada Wilderness Committee and founder of Strait Communications. Through her work with the Free Your Vote Society, Women Electing Women and the People for Pro Rep, Andrea has also been a vocal advocate at both the civic and provincial level for electoral reforms that make more votes count, produce fairer election results and remove barriers to the election of women.

Links & Readings

Links

The ACE Project

The Administration and Cost of Elections (ACE) Electronic Publication represents the first-ever attempt to provide a globally accessible information resource on election administration.

Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform

This site documents the deliberations and final proposal of the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform in British Columbia. There is a wide range of information on electoral reform.

Political Connections

This is column from February 10th 2005 is one of four that Bill Tieleman has written on electoral reform in British Columbia.

Fair Vote Canada

Fair Vote Canada is a multi-partisan citizens’ campaign for voting system reform.

Electoral Reform Society

The Electoral reform Society was founded in 1884 and is probably the oldest organization promoting electoral reform in England.