Because Effective Representation is Our Right

Because British Columbians Are Ready for Change

Polls over the past twenty years have shown that voters in BC and Canada are well and truly ready to move forward with adopting a proportional voting system (the green slices in the pie charts below show the percentage of poll respondents who supported this move).

* responses from ridings in BC held by Liberal MPs.
Note that the last three pie charts are specifically for BC respondents.

Because Every Formal Commission Has Recommended Change

Positive change is easily possible. Canada has had considerable experience with fairer ways of voting in the past (mainly in the western provinces), and most developed nations now use one form of proportional representation (PR) or another.  Over a dozen formal review processes in Canada have all recommended changing how we vote, and politicians from all political parties have at one time or another recognized the unfairness inherent in how we vote and have called for change (including Justin Trudeau, Stephen Harper, Stephane Dion, Jean Chretien, Tom Mulcair, Elizabeth May, among many others). As Trudeau’s Minister for Electoral Reform, Maryam Monsef, said when introducing the federal Electoral Reform process: “”In a multi-party democracy like Canada, first past the post distorts the will of the electorate. It’s part of why so many Canadians don’t engage in or care about politics. While there’s no such thing as a perfect electoral system, we can do better.” [CBC Story]

Because the Academic Evidence Says PR Will Improve BC’s Democracy

There is an immense amount of academic evidence outlining the benefits of using proportional voting. We encourage you read through a detailed discussion here.