Mr. Edgson uses a flimsy example to discredit electoral reform. He suggests that the Green Party has forced the NDP to hold up approval of the $400 rental rebate and suggests this is an egregious example of the tail wagging the dog and that this is what happens when we have coalitions.
And he is right, but he does forget that although the Greens have only 3 seats, thanks to the distortion of FPTP, the 17% of the popular vote they polled should rightly have awarded them 14 or 15 seats, hardly a small minority.
Mr. Edgson tries to make the $400 rebate a big deal, but it pales in comparison to Site C, which the Greens opposed to no avail and perhaps to the proposal for an LNG plant.
RE: B.C. Rural Party co-founder rebukes pro-NDP accusation…
“I am disappointed a Liberal MLA would utilize false information in that way.
That is exactly why so many of us today question the integrity of our politicians and the political process in this province.” - Darcy Repen.
Mr. Repen is not the only one disappointed in the Liberals use of false information. There is a concerted effort by BC Liberal MLAs to discredit and defeat the movement for a fair and democratic electoral system, proportional representation. Adopting PR, the MLAs feel, would mean a loss of their entitlement to be the ruling party of B.C. The MLAs are not above using fear mongering, half-truths and cherry picking to defeat electoral reform.
An example is MLA Norm MLA Norm Letnick who accused Repen of being a campaign supporter of Premier John Horgan. The motive behind that attack, to discredit Repen and his new party because they threaten his political future.
Another example is this statement by MLA Linda Larson, “You could start to see more marginalized small political parties start to pop up.”
She is reiterating another of the anti-electoral reform group’s favourite talking points, fear mongering, suggesting the democracy as we know it will be hijacked by small parties. Seems she doesn’t want other voices to be heard, that she is afraid of losing her entitlement.
She goes on to put a wedge between rural and urban BC, acting as a defender of rural BC: “I don’t think there is a disconnect between MLAs and their constituents in the Interior. I think the disconnect comes with people living in the Lower Mainland who work in an office tower and don’t realize the importance of resource-based industries play in our province because they don’t see it first-hand,”
As the date for the referendum draws closer, be prepared for more of this defensiveness.
Daryl Sturdy