Prince Rupert's land lines have been ringing steady these last few days, as both the Pro and Con side of the great debate over how we should elect our provincial officials make their presentations to those daring to answer their home phones on the North Coast.
On Wednesday night, in the span of an hour, the calls came in, the first a supper time missive from Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson urging us to join in on the Telephone Town Hall on the upcoming referendum, where we would hear the Liberal party's talking points on why the Proportional representation plan is a flawed process this time around.
Less than an hour later, it was John Horgan himself, or actually the recorded voice of John Horgan, urging for our support on the Yes Side, that will bring proportional representation to the BC Legislature.
The sudden surge in communication coming as the mail in ballots begin to make their way to homes across the city.
When the new duo of Wilky and John weren't laying down their beats in the recording studio, they were taking it to a slam off in the Legislature ... with the both the Premier and the Liberal Opposition leader making their points during the Tuesday morning session of the House.
The session made for the opening salvo to the theme of the referendum from both leaders, with the opening remarks of Tuesday morning setting the pace for the rest of the referendum campaign.
The Premier and Opposition leader spoke to the Legislature shortly before 10:30 AM on Tuesday.
The Transcript of the debate can be reviewed here, with the video of the presentation available from the House Video for Tuesday afternoon by clicking on the 10:30 a.m. marker to the right of the transcript.
Such was the flow of the discussion through Tuesday morning, that artistic expression even morphed into poetry, or maybe rap if you put a groove to it.
The free range contribution coming from a guest appearance from Liberal beat master Mike de Jong, who stoked up the latest of rap rivalry with the big dog himself John Horgan ... though Mikey Mike de J needs to work on his work on his riffs a wee bit ...
He once stood tall, said he’d tell all
but now he’s changed his tune.
He won’t disclose the facts, you see,
Because facts will be his ruin.
He cut a deal in Green ink to grab the Premier’s chair.
Manipulate the vote, will he, to keep it. That’s what he cares about.
Party lists and riding size, people need to know
But the Premier doesn’t care, you see.
Into the dark you go.
He’s turned this vote into a sham.
I’m not surprised. That was the plan.
But on this day and in this place provide some facts.
End this disgrace.
As we head towards the finish line of November, we no doubt can expect the debate to become more heated, the rhetoric increasing to even new levels and maybe one or two more poems and free style raps.
Who knows, as the road to the referendum deadline in November arrives, we may even hear a country tune or two from the Cariboo and Interior regions. Country a genre known for its ability to reflect the hurt that unrequited love can bring, or in this case, ballots that don't deliver the preferred voting system for one or more of the three parties in the Legislature.
We've been charting some of the talking points on the Referendum process through our D'Arcy McGee portal, you can catch up with some of the themes here.
For more items of note on themes of interest to the North Coast and Northwest see our archive page here.
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