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| MLA Rice making her case for Proportional Representation in the Legislature on Tuesday |
It could be that North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice may never say anything nicer about former Premier Christy Clark than her use Tuesday of the words of Ms. Clark's when it comes to themes of electoral reform.
With Ms. Rice selecting some comments from the now former Premier dating back to 2009, making the passage part of the NDP MLA's call for electoral reform in British Columbia.
Ms. Rice opened her commentary on the theme for the Legislature Tuesday evening, noting that the current voting system is an outdated model which puts too much power in the hands of too few.
With the North Coast MLA going on to outline her case for Proportional representation as a system that to her will provide for more choice, more accountability and more collaboration between parties to get things done.
She further observes how the system is used around the world and how she views the process as one that ensures that every vote counts.
The push towards Proportional Representation then made an interesting swing when the North Coast MLA took us back in the time machine to 2009, back when Christy Clark was the host of a talk show on Vancouver radio station CKNW, with Ms. Rice recounting some of the talking points from the host's chair at that time.
Here are some of the words of wisdom about voting systems from the former Premier Christy Clark. In 2009, when Christy Clark hosted her own radio show on CKNW, she gave a measured and thoughtful argument as to why our province should drop the first-past-the-post voting system and adopt a proportional system.
In a video filmed in her radio studio, an ever-exuberant Clark talked about why she once preferred the voting system of first-past-the-post. But once she got out of politics, as a regular citizen, she felt differently. At the time, voters were about to determine whether a form of proportional representation — STV — should be considered. She stated:
"First up, let's talk about the single most important vote that you are going to cast when you go to the polls on Tuesday. I have a confession to make. I voted against STV in the last election. I even campaigned against it in the last election. "It was an idea that was spawned by an assembly of non-partisan, everyday citizens, and at the time, I have to say, it didn't appeal to me. At the time, I believed that my vote was right, because I liked our first-past-the-post system. "Our current system served my personal interests as a politician very well, thank you. I, like many of our entrenched interests who are today fighting for proportional representation, didn't see a need to change a system that worked well for me." -- North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice relaying past comments from then talk show host Christy Clark from 2009
Ms. Rice continued to call upon the ghost of talk show host Clark for much of her presentation to the Legislature on Tuesday, shifting focus for a few moments to review how the current political approach of the Liberals is designed to create fear of proportional representation and how that discussion has begun to be delivered to the Northwest area of the province.
That speaks to who's fighting against pro rep right now, such as the friends of the B.C. Liberals buying full-page ads to whip up fear and mislead voters; former B.C. Liberal cabinet ministers writing op-eds in newspapers, doing the same; rhetoric attempting to divide rural and urban voters by stating that rural MLAs will suddenly disappear; or my favourite, the full-page ad that I saw in my local paper of the riding of North Coast, my riding, redrawn into the entire half of the province, a plausible new riding.
These are misleading statements by the B.C. Liberals who attempt to instil a fear into northern and rural voters that life will be dictated by the cities. Let's set the record straight. Proportional representation is good for all voters, rural and urban. No matter where you live or who you vote for, you deserve to elect an MLA who shares your values. That's the basic principle of proportional representation
All models of proportional representation have strong local and regional representation. Voters will retain their local representatives, and no seats will move to the cities. Every model will be tailored to the geography of each riding, and riding boundaries will continue to be determined by a community of interest, identity, historical patterns and the need to keep geographic size of ridings manageable
You can review her full contribution to the debate in the Legislature from the debate archive here starting at the 17:16 PM point of the discussion.
The Video presentation is also available from the Legislature Chamber video archive for Tuesday afternoon, Ms. Rice's commentary is found at 5:16PM.
Wednesday, Ms. Rice continued with her themes on the upcoming referendum, her commentary on the topic shared through her Facebook page.
The fate of the mail in vote in British Columbia may be in some peril however, dependent on what kind of, if any, labour action that Canada Post workers may take after Monday.
No postal service, or even limited postal services would certainly require some kind of action by the Province when it comes to the mail in balloting process that will make for the counting of our votes on the electoral reform proposals.
You can review some of the views on the electoral reform province from across British Columbia through our archive page here, hosted on our political blog D'Arcy McGee.
For further items of interest from the Legislature see our archive page here.
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