As part of the Cooperation and Responsible Government Accord between the NDP and Green Party, the BC government has launched a Special Committee on Electoral and Democratic Reform to “examine and make recommendations related to democratic engagement and voter participation, and models for electing Members of the Legislative Assembly”. More specifically, their Terms of Reference say that they are to evaluate models of proportional voting and to report back to the legislature by the end of November.

The Special Committee is currently holding hearings (both in-person and virtual), and is soliciting written submissions until July 25, 2025. You can check out the presentation transcripts here.

Both Fair Voting BC and Springtide (our partner in the Charter Challenge for Fair Voting) have made written submissions – check them out here:

• Springtide’s Submission focuses on making the case for change and recommendations for process.
  
• Fair Voting BC’s Submission outlines a Regional Representation model for voting reform that honours past recommendations (particularly the Citizens’ Assembly’s recommendation of the Single Transferable Vote (STV)), but also addresses concerns, objections, and obstacles to implementation – in short, Regional Representation combines small multi-member ridings (similar to what are used with STV) with a small number of regional top-up seats (similar to those used in Mixed Member Proportional), and uses a simple “Mark an X” ballot that looks almost identical to what we currently use.

Although the deadline for signing up to make a presentation to the committee has passed, we encourage you to make a written submission prior to the July 25th deadline. Your submission will have the most value and impact if you can do the following:

• Tell the Committee why voting reform matters to you – explain to them how you are personally affected by the problems created by our current First Past the Post voting system and why you want to see the system changed to a more inclusive (proportional) voting system.
  
• Let them know that you would like to see a new voting system that aligns with the voting values outlined in Fair Voting BC’s submission. It would be particularly helpful if you explicitly endorse the Regional Representation model we outline there – let them know that you think this model is very workable for BC.
  
• Explain that you hope and expect them to take action without resorting to a referendum because voting reform is a civil rights issue, and it’s not appropriate to put a matter of civil rights to a referendum where a majority could deny rights to a minority. Their duty as MLAs is to determine the most appropriate and democratic system for BC and to enact it with ordinary legislation.