The last thing we need is another referendum.
Chemainus-area folks already have one coming up on June 23 to determine whether they feel the Municipality of North Cowichan and the City of Duncan should be amalgamated.
There’s also the fall elections, of course, but that is very much up in the air depending on whether the amalgamation vote receives an approval and then, in fact, is given the green light as being binding by Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Selina Robinson. Now we get word that a referendum on Proportional Representation is upcoming.
Do more than half the people in the province even know what that means? And, even if they do, are they going to register a vote on it.
That’s highly unlikely. The turnouts at provincial elections are poor enough and fewer even bother to vote in any referendums. It seems the current system should simply be left alone. Everyone understands that the winner of a riding gets to represent it.
No one understands that a percentage of the total votes received by Party So-and-So will result in Blank number of seats because they’re actually deserving for receiving Such-and-Such a percentage of the popular vote. It doesn’t matter. You should have to win your riding to get a seat. Simple as that.
Most people can figure out that the person with the highest number of votes is the one elected. There’s no second place.
That would be like saying, well, the Stanley Cup winner, of course, gets a trophy, but we want a prize for the runners-up as well for some players to join them in the parade.
It just doesn’t work that way and the parties that don’t elect as many members to the legislature just have to get used to that.