October 31, 2005

Response to Bill 14

MLA Statement

I would like to voice my strong support for Bill 14. I live in and represent a riding in one of the fastest-growing cities in British Columbia — Burnaby. Currently there are three seats entirely within Burnaby and a fourth, Burquitlam, which is half in Burnaby. With a population of over 200,000, representing 5 percent of the total population in B.C., the city is beginning to see the squeeze — that is, equitable representation right here in Victoria.

During the 2001 election our government campaigned on electoral and democratic reform. Once elected, we got right to work on this commitment. Our government strongly believes elections should never be called as a result of a government creating artificial conditions designed entirely to help them get re-elected, like a former Premier with his infamous fudge-it budget.

As a result of the commitment of our government, British Columbia was the first province to legislate fixed election dates. Our province is a leader to other provinces. Other provinces are looking at what we have done, and one province, Ontario, is following our lead. It's really unusual that Ontario is following B.C.'s lead.

Not only that: our government realized there was a growing voice about the way provincial politicians are elected in our province. This needed to be addressed, and we allowed the people, not the politicians, to have a say. This is why we initiated the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. This assembly was made up of randomly selected British Columbians and drawn in equal numbers from every electoral district. It was their job to recommend to British Columbia voters a potential new system of how they elect us, their MLAs.

This initiative, the first for any Western democracy, was completely free from political interference. About 50 hearings were done, and they received over 1,600 written submissions. The Citizens' Assembly recommended the single transferable vote, a system of proportional representation. As we are aware, the vote on STV narrowly failed to pass last May. Despite a majority of voters in all but a handful of ridings supporting the initiative, this kind of proportion failed to reach the magic 60 threshold required to pass.

As our province continues to grow, it's important that citizens are represented in a fair manner, with no one region dominating. A system of balance and regional equity is required. Our government, being the most open and democratic in Canada, also realizes there's a strong desire by the electorate to modify our electoral system. This is what the Electoral Boundaries Commission Amendment Act, 2005 will achieve.

I believe it's vital that we support Bill 14 and allow the proposed commission the flexibility needed to ensure that British Columbia's electoral boundaries reflect accurately our changing population while at the same time making sure no one region dominates the political process. While it's important to make sure seats are distributed in a fair and equitable manner, under no circumstances should a region be, for the lack of a better word, punished for the size of the population. It would be unfair for the lower mainland to benefit and to have the interior or the north's voice diminished. That's not what our province is about. Once passed,

Bill 14 will allow the commission the flexibility to recommend up to 85 electoral districts and MLAs in order to protect B.C.'s smaller population bases.

I'm also very much in favour of affording the electorate another opportunity to vote on the single transferable vote. Once the commission has finalized this report, British Columbians will know beyond a shadow of a doubt how this proposed system will impact them. Bill 14 will represent a lot of people and, also, will present the electorate with a clear choice and critical pieces of information that were missing during this May's referendum. This is very important.

As the commission travels through the province and consults with the people, I urge British Columbians to take advantage of this opportunity and to express their opinions on how we, the MLAs, shall be elected. This is a very pure form of democracy, and we have a moral responsibility to ensure that it truly represents the wishes of the people.

I hope all members of this House join me in supporting Bill 14. This represents an excellent opportunity to ensure all our constituents receive the best possible representation here in Victoria in the future.