All told, about 100 area residents attended two meetings last week to learn more about the upcoming referendum on electoral reform.
The first meeting was held Wednesday evening at Thompson Rivers University and was hosted by the Council of Canadians. That event saw about 25 people gather to listen to speaker Peter Ewert of Stand Up for the North Committee and Jay Sanders of Fair Vote.
Both men were in favour of proportional representation, and discussing its benefits.
“There are a lot of British Columbians who are dissatisfied with the currently electoral system,” Ewert said, noting he was there to dispel some of the ‘fairy tales’ being told by those favouring the current First Past the Post system.
They encouraged residents to look at the facts provided by Elections BC to understand the difference between the current system and proportional representation, both of which are party-based systems.
During the question portion of the panel discussion, several residents said they didn’t understand how proportional representation works and found it complicated.
On Friday evening in the gymnasium at Lake City Secondary School, that confusion over the two choices, and following three sub-choices within proportional representation, was amplified when the Williams Lake and District Chamber of Commerce hosted a second panel discussion with speakers both in favour and opposed to the two electoral systems.
Cariboo Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett and Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Mike Morris spoke against electoral reform, citing the high cost of proportional representation, the desire to have local MLAs as opposed to regionally appointed MLAs and a general lack of information surrounding proportional representation as reasons to stay with First Past the Post.
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Sally Watson, NDP candidate for the Cariboo Chilcotin, and Michael Atwood of the Council of Canadians argued proportional representation would balance out majority governments, giving those with an opposing view to those in power a voice in government by providing a mix of MLAs.
When pressed, however, Watson admitted the electoral system was confusing and that she didn’t really understand it herself.
Former First Nations chief Irvin Charleyboy questioned how the electoral reform would offer a voice for First Nations communities, while soon-to-be-sworn in city councillor Marnie Brenner said she was also concerned how and whether the provincial government would explain the two systems to remote First Nations communities who do not have access to the Internet.
Voting information on the referendum was starting to arrive in the mail last week and residents have until the end of November to vote.
Barnett pleaded with residents not to vote for proportional representation, if for no other reason than the fact that there isn’t enough time or information to make an informed decision.
Watson said if proportion representation was in place she felt it might encourage more people to engage in elections.
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