Post by Admin on Jul 21, 2018 9:52:14 GMT
"Legislature - Community"
We have 87 MLAs in our Legislature to represent 87 BC Communities. With the size of BC we need to be sure that as many communities as possible are represented in the Legislature. This is why we have 87 individual elections, so each of the 87 communities can elect their community representative. This connection between the Legislature and the 87 communities is vital for maintaining a sense of the community being an intricate part of the government; a sense of BELONGING. Without this connection of the “Legislature – Community” there is a feeling of disconnection with the government; a sense of BEING GOVERNED.
Proportional Representation (PR) ignores this connection “Legislature – Community” as it requires multi-MLA regions to achieve the Party-proportionality. The community becomes lost in the much larger Regions. The elections in these larger regions become a form of “Election At-Large”. The larger regions consist of multiple communities. One community may elect 2 or 3 MLAs; other communities in the same region may elect 0 MLAs. The Communities are no longer represented in the Legislature!
With PR we will be lucky to have 40 REGIONS represented (local MLAs) in the Legislature. In order to reach any resemblance of “Party-Proportionality” there needs to be a high number of “Top-up” MLAs (party-MLAs). With more regions being represented the “Party-Proportionality” is greatly reduced.
This loss of this “Legislature – Community” connection is a HIGH PRICE to pay for party-proportionality. The Irish learn this the hard way. The Irish use STV-PR to achieved a high degree of party-proportionality with large multi-MLA ridings, some as high as 10 MLAs to be elected in a single riding. Now the Irish have a LIMIT in the size of the ridings to a maximum of 5 MLAs per riding, most in the 3 – 4 MLAs. This decrease in the size of the ridings greatly reduced the party-proportionality, but reconnected with the “Legislature – Community” connection that they found more substantial than the party-proportionality.
Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) strengthens this “Legislature – Community” connection. With the electorate in each of the 87 communities having to elect their MLA with a Majority of support means each community has a strong and clear voice in the Legislature.