First Past the Post versus Proportional Representation

BC is readying for another referendum on what they term “Fair.gov” suggesting to proportionally allocate legislative seats based on provincial results. This is based on each parties electoral balloting by percentage. This has caused me to reflect on both our learnings from travel to other regions that have proportional representation and our most recent experience in attempting to effect change related to a traffic safety hazard in Ladysmith, BC.

There are some countries, primarily in Europe that have proportional representation. You can look them up on the internet for a full list but three countries come to mind illustrating their dysfunction, Greece, Belgium and Italy. All are in serious financial difficulties, and the major issues relate to the ability to action a government with a cohesive agenda and message and hold their elected politicians accountable.

Many of these proportional models use what is called an additional member system which introduces the balancing of proportional representation by percentage/party, with that of constituency based polling. This causes an increase in the size of elected representatives within the legislature which directly increases the cost of representative government. There are no guarantees of improved efficiency; in fact it slows down government action on most measures.

This is where our experience dealing with our government MLA this spring and summer really highlighted the needs for accountability.

We initiated along with other south Ladysmith BC citizens a drive to have a traffic intersection reviewed due to the safety hazards that exist there. We sought the advice of some civic officials who we have long respected and trusted and were given some cautionary advice regarding how to action this campaign and who to trust. We followed their advice to the letter and glad we did.

We felt that the volume of over 500 letters to the Minister of Highways of an NDP government, with a local NDP MLA, and handled in such a fashion as recommended to us that only the Minister would be held accountable proved that the guidance we received was accurate. 

The MLA vacillated; as predicted by our civic officials. In this case the government has circled their wagons along with a local politician who wants to claim he led the charge, in complete contrast to the facts.

So, at least we know who to hold accountable in this situation when it comes time to vote a future election, using current behavior to predict future behavior.

If a proportional representation model were in effect, imagine the scapegoating of excuses that would be permitted where the government would not be able to be held accountable for its decisions or lack thereof. It isn’t difficult when your issue is with a governing party. Imagine if you dealt with a coalition.

Also an interesting non-political report by Canada's RCMP warns of how extremism can enter the mainstream of politics through the outside influences of fringe entities. 

And the Financial Post indicates how this can manifest itself into a "useful idiots" campaign.