Residents with questions or thoughts about the upcoming referendum on proportional representation are encouraged to attend a free barbecue Thursday in Williams Lake.
Cariboo Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett and B.C. Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson are hosting the event at Spirit Square — located at the corner of Oliver Street and First Avenue downtown.
“We will be presenting people with their options and suggesting to them that if they go for proportional representation, representation for the Cariboo will decline dramatically and that’s a serious problem for democracy in B.C.,” Wilkinson told the Tribune Thursday morning. “We are not supporting prop-rep. We are strongly supportive of the current system.”
He said the current system provides accountable representation. People know who their MLA is and the party bosses aren’t choosing the MLAs.
Wilkinson said he is hearing opposition for prop-rep throughout areas north of Hope.
“People have no interest in being told who their MLA should be by some party boss in Victoria or Vancouver.”
Read more: Proportional representation means more B.C. parties, coalitions
Barnett said it would be a case of no longer voting for an MLA but voting for a party.
“They (NDP) won’t provide us any maps, but the last map we did when we held the last referendum in 2009 showed the possibility that this riding could be from Kelowna to Prince George. You may get one representative elected for that area and then the party that gets the most votes could pick somebody from Vancouver or some place to be the other rep up here.”
In the scenario of multiple-member ridings, no one is accountable, Wilkinson said.
“If you have mixed representation, some will be on your side and some will be opposed to you. Whereas in the current system, if you like what Donna Barnett’s doing you re-elect her, if you don’t, you elect someone else. If there’s a problem with health care, education or roads, you know who to talk to and that’s Donna Barnett and she has to listen to you. It’s her job.”
Wilkinson said he also plans to meet with a few businesses to find out about the NDP’s union benefits agreement and the state of the economy here in the Cariboo, as well as the impacts of wildfires.
The barbecue will run from 4 to 6 p.m.
Read more: B.C. VIEWS: No time for maps in this rush to a referendum
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