Letter: Increasing division in Canada emphasizes need for electoral reform

More and more of us feel our voices are not being heard in our respective legislatures.

For good reason. Most governments do not accurately reflect voters’ wishes. Most seat majority governments in this country, elected by a voter minority courtesy of our archaic and unfair voting system which manufactures majorities where none, in fact, exist.

Most local representatives are elected by a minority of voters, leaving the majority who voted for other parties voiceless.

Our current winner take-all-system might have been adequate in simpler times. It no longer serves our diverse population with its many different views and perspectives. Those views must be represented in Parliament. That is how democracy is supposed to work.

Let a randomly selected, representative and independent assembly of ordinary citizens study the issue of electoral reform and make a recommendation.

In 2005, 58 per cent of B.C. voters supported the recommendation of the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform for a made-in-B.C. form of proportional representation. Unfortunately, the government of the day raised the bar to 60 per cent because, one might cynically suggest, our current voting system prioritizes the interests of mainstream parties over those of voters.

As trucker convoys in Ottawa and across the country have shown, our country is becoming more and more polarized, to the detriment of our democracy and us all.

I do not want future generations to inherit a legacy of division and hate. I do not want Canada to follow in the footsteps of our southern neighbour.

While electoral reform is not the only answer, it is a piece of the solution puzzle.

Read more: Column: B.C. voters go medieval at the ballot box

Read more: North Okanagan-Shuswap candidates on electoral reform, Truth and Reconciliation

Sue Young

Fair Vote North Okanagan Shuswap

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