B.C. Citizen\'s Assembly Proposal Marred by Mega-Majority Requirement
April 29, 2003
FAIR VOTE CANADA
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 2003
contact: Bruce Hallsor, Vice President, Fair Vote Canada 250-888-
7846
B.C. CITIZENS' ASSEMBLY PROPOSAL MARRED
BY MEGA-MAJORITY REQUIREMENT
An otherwise commendable and historic plan for a British Columbia
citizen's assembly on electoral reform is badly flawed in one key area
that contradicts the government's stated goal of "letting the people
decide directly", according to Fair Vote Canada, a national citizens
campaign for voting system reform.
"While I will repeat our praise over the past year for Mr. Campbell's
leadership in establishing a citizens' assembly, the process should not
impose an inflated mega-majority requirement in any resulting
referendum to ratify a new voting system," said Bruce Hallsor, Vice
President, Fair Vote Canada.
The government announced yesterday that the motion to be tabled in
the legislature will require any referendum question arising from the
work of the citizens' assembly to attract an overall 60% vote, with
approval in 60% of the province's electoral districts, for ratification.
"Why move the goal posts when citizens, rather than governments,
are making a decision? In Canadian democracy, political parties can
wield power and make all types of far-reaching decisions for our
society by gaining a simple 50% majority of seats. In fact, under our
current dysfunctional voting system, a party can even win a majority of
seats, and make those binding decisions, with less than 40% of the
popular vote," said Mr. Hallsor. "So why the double standard? How do
you reconcile telling citizens they have to have a 60%+ mega-majority
to make a decision, when parties and governments retain the right to
do so with much lower standards?"
Fair Vote Canada believes the 60%+ mega-majority referendum
ratification requirement should be dropped to a simple majority, or
else the issue should be handed over the to citizens assembly itself
for discussion, public input and a decision that would then be
embedded in the referendum process.
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