Dear Editor:
To those who think proportional representation will put power into the hands of minority parties, consider this: with first past the post, in the last federal election, the Liberals won 100 per cent of the power with under 40 per cent of the votes.
In Quebec, CAQ won with 37 per cent of the votes.
And in Ontario, Doug Ford’s Conservatives won with just over 40 per cent.
Is it fair that, on a regular basis, 60 per cent of voters are not represented?
Parliamentary democracies are certainly the worst political system with the exception of all others but they can be improved and in an era where democratic values are being undermined and jeopardized around the world, Canada can and should lead by example.
As journalist Andrew Coyne put it: if you are tired of not being able to “vote for the party you prefer [so as not to split the vote] but must vote for the party you don’t like to prevent the party you detest from getting in,” then we should vote yes in the referendum and educate ourselves about the three proportional representation options being proposed.
They all maintain the current FPTP model and merely add an element of proportional representation to it.
D. Gaury
Summerland
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