Let's keep first-past-the-post

Democracy is working just fine, so leave B.C.'s electoral system be

Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking.

— former British prime minister Clement Attlee

To: the Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform

This is a submission for your deliberations on whether and how to change British Columbia's electoral system.

You are responsible for deciding if our existing system is adequate and, if not, recommending an alternative that will be voted on at the next provincial election on May 17, 2005.

I have a simple suggestion that will save you untold amounts of work: don't change a thing.

Keep our first-past-the-post system as it is, where the winner in a geographical riding is determined simply by who gets the most votes. Do not succumb to the enormous pressure of political parties and special-interest groups that desperately want you to recommend a system of proportional representation, where the number of legislature seats won reflects each party's percentage of the vote.

Refuse to change an electoral system that has served society well since the advent of parliamentary democracy in England centuries ago. Resist the urge to reform simply for reform's sake.

But I fear you have already made up your collective mind to tinker with democracy, for the well-intentioned idea that our electoral system should be "more representative". I can only ask you, more representative of what?

I can hear a multitude of submissions crying out in the darkness: "So no vote is a wasted vote. So every vote counts!" In a democracy, there are no "wasted" votes. Unfortunately, in an age of instant gratification, some people believe their vote was wasted unless a politician of the same brand name that they picked appears in the legislature.

And as in a preschooler's game, some people feel that everyone should get a prize. What nonsense.

Every election, voters are faced with political choices. And just like in a horserace, some candidates are favourites and others are long shots. Some political parties have a chance to form government; others have no hope.

But it's up to each person to decide whether to compromise some of their principles by voting for a party that is more likely to win an election or to vote their conscience no matter what the odds.

Your preliminary statement of March 21, 2004, concerns me.

"Adversarial politics often result in sharp swings in public policy as newly elected governments often undo or reverse the programs of their predecessors. This style of politics contributes to a growing alienation of voters from the political process which has been reflected in falling voter turnout rates, especially among young voters," it reads.

First, voter turnout is not falling. In our last B.C. election in May 2001, an impressive turnout of 70.95 percent of registered voters cast a ballot. In the previous election of 1996, 71.5 percent turned out to vote.

It may not fit with your theories, but the 1996 and 2001 turnouts were higher than in every provincial election between 1952 and 1979 but one.

And if such "low" voter turnout is your worry, then let's do what Australia does and make voting mandatory. In its 2001 election, Australia boasted a 95-percent turnout. It ends voter apathy by fining those who don't participate. Civil libertarians may object, but if paying taxes isn't optional, why is voting?

Ahhh, I can already hear one of your objections: what about the alienated young people who don't vote or even register to vote? Absolutely right.

A recent Elections Canada study that examined 2002 poll results of about 2,500 people found a disturbing correlation between age and voter participation.

In the 2000 federal election, voter turnout was 61 percent. The older the voter, the better the participation rate, with 83 percent of those aged 68 or older casting a ballot. On the other end of the age scale, only 22 percent of those aged 18 to 20 and only 27.5 percent of those 21 to 24 years old voted.

So young people are cynical about the electoral system and therefore don't vote, right? Wrong.

A second 2002 poll by Elections Canada of 4,659 people, including 848 nonvoters, found that the biggest single reason not to vote was negative attitudes toward politicians, cited by 26 percent, followed closely by "apathy and lack of interest", the reason given by 23 percent of them. Negative attitudes toward the electoral system was an issue for only one percent of those surveyed and only one-half of one percent of the nonvoters. This would lead one to conclude that the best way to improve voter turnout and end apathy would be to ban politicians from running for office, not to change the electoral system.

Nonetheless, several B.C. political parties, including the B.C. NDP and the Green Party, are hell-bent on introducing proportional representation. They are wrong.

There are many reasons why voters, including yourselves, should be extremely wary of proportional representation. Perhaps the most important is that pro-rep takes power away from voters and hands it to political parties while claiming to do exactly the opposite.

Proportional representation almost always guarantees minority governments that are forced to make backroom deals with the smallest parties to survive. It potentially means a tyranny of the minority, as happens regularly in Israel when extremist religious parties demand their positions be adopted in exchange for propping up a government.

Voters are cynical because of politicians and government, not the electoral system, and proportional representation will result in yet more reasons to distrust our elected officials. That's not what democracy needs.

I strongly urge you to decide that our current electoral system, whatever its perceived flaws, is a far better option than to take a risky chance on proportional representation.

(NOTE: The deadline for submissions to the Citizens Assembly is August 13. See www.citizensassembly.bc.ca/ for more information.)

Bill Tieleman is a political commentator Thursdays on CBC TV's Canada Now and regularly on CBC Radio's Early Edition. E-mail him at weststar@telus.net.

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