A single ballot could radically transform B.C.’s political landscape, following a referendum on proportional representation next fall.
Making good on its campaign promise to put proportional representation to a vote, the NDP government introduced legislation October 4 to hold a province-wide referendum on proportional representation in the fall of 2018.
It will be conducted by mail-in ballot.
And unlike previous referendum votes on electoral reform, all that will be needed to change the current voting system to proportional representation will be 50% of the vote, plus one.
The last time British Columbians voted to change the electoral system – to a single transferable vote – the threshold was set at 60%. It failed when only 57% of British Columbians voted in favour of a single transferable voting system.
If a majority of citizens vote in favour of proportional representation, the government will be required to enact enabling legislation, with the first election to be held under the new system after July 1, 2021.
"We are taking steps to modernize our democracy today, while giving people the power to decide the future of our most fundamental democratic institution,” said B.C. Attorney General David Eby.
In additional to introducing legislation on the referendum, the government also introduced legislation that reduces the number of seats a party has to hold in the legislature to get official party status from four down to two.
Sonia Furstenau, the Green Party’s official spokesperson on electoral reform, welcomed the referendum.
“Canada is one of the last OECD countries to not adopt a proportional voting system," she said. "It is time we took this important step towards bringing our democracy into the 21st century.”
Smaller parties like the Greens would benefit most from proportional representation, since the first-past-the post tends to favour the larger established parties.
Under the first-past-the-post system, the candidate that gets the most votes in a riding wins and the party that has the most members elected forms the government.
Under proportional representation, the number of seats a party wins is proportional to the number of votes cast, so the number of seats held is more reflective of the popular vote.
