To the editor;
Positions on electoral reform, in 2015 federal political party platforms, ranged from the NDP and Greens promising proportional representation, to the Liberals pledging to consult and saying there would be no further elections using the current first-past-the-post (FPTP) system, to the Conservatives who were content to stay with a system they say has served Canada well for 150 years.
In Canada the FPTP system almost always produces seats for political parties that are disproportional to the votes they receive. The 2011 election resulted in the Conservatives holding 54 per cent (166 of 308) of the seats with less than 40 per cent of the vote.
In 2015 it was pretty much the same with the Liberals claiming almost the same share of seats and votes.
Too many voters whose vote didn’t count and too many voters staying at home. The current system is broken.
The Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Electoral Reform Committee, an informal group comprised of individuals from all political parties and some with no party affiliation at all, has been holding public events to educate people on the electoral process and seek their opinions. The Committee will submit a report to the federal committee studying electoral reform.
I hope your readers will attend the public town hall meeting the Committee set for 7:00 PM, Monday, September 12th at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Kamloops. It’s an opportunity to learn about and discuss various systems of electing our federal representatives, and to have a say in how we vote in 2019.
Michael Crawford
Kamloops, B.C.