Calls for electoral reform in B.C. are increasing - not surprising, as it begins more and more to look like a seriously lopsided result will come out of the next provincial election.
Lopsided results tend to emphasize a flaw in first-pastthe-post voting, in which the candidate with the most votes wins the election, regardless of how few votes he or she actually polls. With three or four strong candidates running, a winner could have fewer than a third of the total ballots cast. Gordon Campbell led the B.C. Liberals to a massive victory in 2001, winning all but two ridings - about 95 per cent of the seats in the legislature - despite receiving less than 60 per cent of the popular vote across the province.
The likelihood of another lopsided election - this one possibly electing a disproportionate number of NDP MLAs - is rekindling the fires under the concept of a transferable-vote system that requires a candidate to acquire at least 50 per cent support, either initially or through voters' second or third choices.
But a change in balloting would not address the real problem. When MLAs go to Victoria, they become blind representatives for their party. If they actually represented their ridings - and the people who elected them - the first-past-the-post system would serve us just fine.
