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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2017 19:36:06 GMT
2018 BC Referendum:
The BC NDP Government has stated that there will be a referendum in the fall of 2018 on what kind of Electoral System the voters of BC want. There has been a heavy disagreement on rather a "referendum" is the proper way to go concerning our Electoral System. With the Federal NDP with the ERRE committee on Electoral Reform was originally against a "referendum", at the end of the committee's work the NDP were more in favour of a "referendum".
This will be BC's 3rd referendum on Electoral Reform - 2005; 2009; and now in 2018. One thing we have learned from the earlier referendums of 2005 and 2009 is that simple "Yes or No" is not adequate for such a complicated issue as Electoral Reform. There needs to be amendments to the referendum regulations to accommodate more complete response.
If the Government does not make the necessary amendments before the referendum, the referendum wording could be phrased in a manner that will promote what the Government wants to achieve. What amendments need to be made to permit a more complete response by the Voters?
Another consideration is the timing of the BC referendum. 2019 is the next Federal Election. With Justin's failure to end the FPTP system, and depending on the results of BC's referendum could make the 2019 Federal Election a challenging time for Justin and the Liberals. |
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Post by Admin on Oct 24, 2017 7:04:44 GMT
Amendments needed to the Referendum Act and /or Regulations:
We need the referendum to accommodate more than a "Yes or No" response from the Voter. The "Yes or No" tells us very little and is why BC is now having its 3rd referendum on Electoral Reform since 2005. In 2005 the Voters voted "Yes" and in 2009 the Voters voted "No", it is obvious that a simple "Yes or No" will get us nowhere. We need the referendum to ask more than 1 question: 1. Do you support ending the FPTP system? - Yes or No
2. Please rank (1-4) your preferences of Electoral Systems:
- IRV - Instant Runoff Voting
- STV - Single Transferable Vote
- FPTP - First-Past-The-Post
- MMP - Mixed Member Proportional
This will actually give us the information we actually need, in order to move forward on Electoral Reform. Anything short of this will be counter-productive and will lead to being vulnerable to manipulatively phase "Yes or No" question.
A referendum with a "Loaded Question" will not put an end to this issue of Electoral Reform. A Loaded Question would be something like - "Do you support replacing FPTP with PR?" - this is loaded as it gives the voter no real choice - the voter may not support either but is forced to make a choice between 2 systems that they do not support. PR is not a specific Electoral System, PR is a generic name for different Electoral Systems (Party-List PR, STV, MMP are all PR systems). Asking to replace a specific system (FPTP) with PR is a UNFAIR question because PR does not signify any specific Electoral System. The Voter does not know what they are voting for with PR. This is how referendums can be manipulated!
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