No B.C. Proportional Representation Society will keep its doors open and may fight electoral reformers in court

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      A B.C. group has called on Fair Vote Canada and other groups advocating electoral reform to "stop pestering voters after multiple defeats across Canada over several years".

      “PEI voters just said no to proportional representation; B.C. voters just said no in December, 2018 to make it three times in 13 years; Ontario voters said no in 2007," No B.C. Proportional Representation Society president Bill Tieleman said in a news release. 

      The long-time NDP supporter and registered lobbyist described the first-past-the-post electoral system as "stable and successful".

      Earlier this week in a provincewide referendum, PEI voters narrowly voted to keep first past the post over a multimember proportional system.

      “Enough is enough," Tieleman said. "Voters have spoken over and over and yet groups like Fair Vote Canada keep trying to force their preferred foreign electoral system on the country and provinces when the answer has been clear—no thanks.” 

      The society's vice president is Suzanne Anton, who was attorney general in the last B.C. Liberal government. She criticized electoral-reform-advocacy groups for launching a fundraising campaign to underwrite a charter challenge in the Supreme Court of Canada against the first-past-the-post system.

      “Despite defeat after defeat at the hands of voters, they refuse to accept reality," Anton declared. "Voters have spoken and their decision needs to be respected. It is wrong to ask the courts to overrule the democratic wishes of the electorate."

      Their comments came in the wake of Fair Voting B.C. and Nova Scotia–based Springtide revealing that they've raised $25,000 of the $70,000 needed to fund the court challenge.

      "Of course, we can't promise you that this case is a slam-dunk. It won't be," Fair Voting B.C. president Anthony Hodgson and Springtide executive director Mark Coffin stated in a letter to supporters earlier this week. "But at the end of the day, the issue we're tackling is a civil rights issue.

      "When political leaders don't proactively respect those rights, it is up to citizens like us to ask the courts to intervene."

      Because of electoral-reform advocates' refusal to give up, the B.C. Proportional Representation Society plans to maintain its website. It also pledged to work with groups in other parts of Canada to fight proportional representation.

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