I promised myself I wouldn’t get political or overly preachy on UrbanCrows. I’m trying to write about stuff that I find interesting or that strikes me as quirky. And I’m trying hard to keep it engaging. The last thing we need in our lives is another soap box site banging on about domestic or national politics. Having said that…
ThisProportional Representation (PR) referendum is driving me bat-shit crazy.
My Facebook page is awash with ads from lobby groups that are pro- or anti-PR. On the one hand, if you believe the pro-PR groups, we’ve spent our lives being brain washed by “big money”; the nasty corporate ogres intent on ramming First Past The Post (FPTP) down our throats to maintain the status quo. Anyone supporting FPTP is happy to see the money-gobbling Hounds of Hell unleashed onto our utopian streets.
On the other, if you believe the pro-FPTP groups, we’re destined for a life of stalled coalition governments. Every party polling more than 10% gets seats, so our provincial assembly will end up a legislative log jam because everyone wants a piece of the government pie. BC will soon rival Italy with its 65 post-war governments.
Both sides can actually agree on one thing though, thank God. A vote for the other will see the love child of Hitler and Donald Trump elected to Premier at the next provincial vote. Because commie extremists and PR, or is it facists and FPTP?
This summer I was invited to attend a focus group to look at the messaging around the vote. Lucky me. Our carefully chosen group was a decent cross-section of middle class Vancouver. Two twenty-something young professionals, two 40-something family types, and 2 grumpy grey hairs. Guess where I fit?
I got paid $125 to eat sandwiches for 2 hours and volunteer my opinion on a series of rough-draft adverts. It was cunningly organised. We were shown adverts for and against both systems, so I’m not 100% sure who was behind it. But I think the message coming through was tilted towards vilifying the evil FPTP lobby. What was crystal clear though, was that none of the 6 people around the table understood the 3 options being put forward for a possible PR system. None of us. And they had us trapped for 2 hours in a room with bright lamps, two-way mirrors and a trained interrogator.
So my question is, how does the NDP expect to pass something that’s baffling most of the population? Unless you’re a pro or anti-PR zealot, chances are you haven’t bothered wading through the handy, recycled-paper brochure that we all got sent last week. It’s about 50 pages too long, or it seems that way once you’ve tried to read it.
Anybody understand the useful examples provided? The unbiased authors freely admit that at least one of the electoral systems proposed has never been tried in any modern, democratic country.
Regardless of my leaning in the referendum, I see this as another waste of democratic capital and voter goodwill (see my previous post on the municipal election). I’m willing to bet that future referenda will suffer low turnouts because of this fiasco. The whole thing is badly organised, with poorly worded ballots, a confusing set of options and, if it succeeds, too much leeway for the government to tinker with the chosen system post-vote.
Right. And with that said, UrbanCrows will get back to crows. Or mushrooms. Whatever.