The Liberals now have a new leader with Michael Ignatieff's coronation, and past promises of reforms to the way our democracy functions will now have another opportunity to be fulfilled. It is a bit disappointing to the Cat the Ignatieff's team have so far failed to step forward with any inspirational vision concerning fixing the rot in Parliament.
In the meantime, Carole James, leader of the BC NDP, has assumed the mantle of electoral reform in that province, as this letter from her reveals (kudos to challengingthecommonplace blog for posting it):
Dear Chrystal Ocean,
As I wrote before, I think this crucial debate is too important to get mired in partisan politics, so I will not be commenting on STV prior to the referendum.
However, I am firmly committed to implementing STV if the referendum passes. And, if it does not pass, I remain committed to offering British Columbians the opportunity to vote on MMP.
Sincerely,
Carole James, Leader
Official Opposition
With Campbell's rightwing Liberal Party and the provincial Conservative Party conspicuously absent on the question of electoral reform, James has put her NDP squarely in the forefront of reform, promising another referendum on a modified proportional representation system if the BC STV referendum fails to achieve a 60% vote on Tuesday.
How about it, Michael?
Care to put before all Canadians a significant platform of electoral reform for our federal politics? A system with some form of proportional representation will do far more to reduce regional tensions and empower ordinary citizens than any number of speeches you might make to Calgarians.
Why not back real reform instead of simple lip service to the concept?
Canadians deserve to have their votes counted, and to have their votes made significant. Today's system (first past the post or FPTP) reeks of illegitimacy.
Monday, May 11, 2009
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13 comments:
Carole voted against STV in 2004:
http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/viewfromtheledge/archive/2009/04/13/james-and-stv-ndp-mlas-free-to-take-a-position-she-won-t.aspx
I encourage people to vote for STV this time. If it fails to pass, there won't be a chance to vote for MMP or STV the next time.
If STV gets at least 50% support, a future NDP government should introduce legislation to implement STV for the next election.
Did you read the rest of my post, Cat? And the others it linked to? Because I don't find James' promise to be credible. Even if it is, she failed to answer directly any of my questions. In other words, IF the NDP forms government and IF it carries through on her commitment to offer up MMP, then there's a problem.
First, STV beat MMP hands down when the Citizens Assembly came to vote on the two systems; it was 146 to 7.
Second, MMP never received the kind of backing from voters that STV already has. It came nowhere near the 58% we got in 2005.
Third, who does the NDP plan to have design the system to be put to vote?
Lots more questions to ask, none of which James has answered. No surprise.
Lastly, don't confuse the BC NDP with the federal party. They are as unlike as the former Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and the present Conservative Party.
Carole doesn't want to loose the FPTP system at all, likely for similar reasons as Christy Clark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhccpzI4lbQ
"However, I am firmly committed to implementing STV if the referendum passes. And, if it does not pass, I remain committed to offering British Columbians the opportunity to vote on MMP."That reads to me that a) she doesn't support it and b) she doesn't like it, and c) she doesn't want an other system either.
Here's why:
a) she might well be committed to implementing STV when it passes. But the fact that they're not opposing FPTP says enough: the NDP prefers the "power grab" more than the long overdue "electoral reform". At least we get a clear view on their priorities....
b+c) MMP is a red hearing; it's not on the table, and it's unlikely that BC voters will get another referendum for MMP soon.
BC-STV has been in the works for years and it's the electoral system most likely to be accepted by British Columbians.
Carole James is against electoral reform, and that's too bad. That fact that this left of centre party does not support an electoral system that puts more power into the hands of the population shows what a bad system FPTP really is.
Let's hope it will be voted in and get this polarized period of BC politics behind us.
I hope STV passes. If it does not, I hope that James, should she become premier in the future, or have enought clout in the next legislature, will deliver on her promise to proceed with MMP.
Either STV or MMP is better than FPTP. Half a loaf is better than none ...
As to her failure to back STV, at least she is committing herself and her party to trying another bout of reform. Has Campbell? Nope.
You know, the BC Greens were against STV in the last election and I don't hear anyone here holding that against their Leader.
Carol James said she would support it and you have her word - and also if it does not pass, proposing MMP.
Sorry but smearing her, when Campbell the supposed Liberal has not said anything that he would support this change is beyond me.
The parties who are on record, as the Cat rightly points out, both provincially and federally as against a change in our electoral system are Liberals.
Thank you Cat.
The BC Greens were not against STV. Their leader Adriane Carr was, for which she got mightily slammed by members of her own party. I have been in communication with Carole James. Telling the facts of the matter are not equivalent to "smearing" her.
It needs to be reiterated that the BC NDP are NOT the same as the federal NDP. Most Ontarians take BCers' word for that. After all, we should know the parties better than those living in other provinces. Members of the federal party have been great in putting their public support behind BC-STV.
Are not the BC NDP and federal NDP in essence two sides of the same coin?
Do they not both quack to the same tune, boogy to the same beat, and lay roughly the same eggs on occasion?
No, Cat. They're vastly different. Only the name is the same.
As we like to say here in BC, the Liberals are equivalent to the federal Conservatives and the NDP to the federal Liberals. There's many a NDP member and supporter in this province who is dismayed by the rightward direction of the party, especially since James took it over. You need only read the Georgia Strait, one of Vancouver's progressive magazines, to pick that up.
In my riding, which is traditionally NDP territory, there are true diehard Dippers - people who have worked their hearts out for the party in previous campaigns - who, this election, have been working for the GREEN candidate. It has become that bad. They would know, better than any people outside the party.
I think the confusion comes from the fact that the BCNDP and federal ones are still affiliated, even if their policies don't reflect one another.
I assume its similar to Alberta where if you buy a federal membership you get auto-in'ed to the provincial party (like it or loathe it).
Perhaps power really does corrupt any/every party (at least in our current system).
Perhaps, but I think BC (and Alberta and Saskatchewan politics has always been different than the rest of the country - likely the eastern provinces too. When the majority of Canadians live in central Canada, i.e., Ontario and Quebec, then everything seems to be defined and understood in terms of what's happening there.
Back when I lived in Ontario, I knew the provincial NDP to be a fine party, one which I regularly voted for. Don't know how it fairs now, but my sense is it hasn't strayed nearly as far from its roots as the BC NDP have.
Well Chrystal, I have been in BC frequently, and my in-laws live there, so I have more than an afar glance on BC politics.
That said, the Green party leader use to be an open Reform voting individual (2X), so to suggest that the BCNDP is far right, is well a bit rich. You wouldn't find James the leader of the BCndp saying she ever voted for and supported Reform but obviously the Green leader thinks spouting that off shows her progressive roots - not!
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