Status Quo For BC’s Electoral Districts
Victoria, B.C. – Attorney General and Minister of Justice Suzanne Anton has introduced Bill 2, amendments to the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act, in the legislature, which will maintain the existing number of northern and rural electoral districts and ensure the total number of provincial electoral districts remains at 85.
B.C.’s demographics have changed significantly since the act was first passed almost 25 years ago, and recent boundaries commissions have found it challenging to balance population growth with the need to ensure effective representation for northern and rural areas.
If the amendments are passed, the independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (EBC) will continue to have the ability to recommend changes to the boundaries of all electoral districts, but it will be subject to a clear direction to preserve the existing number of electoral districts in northern and rural regions of the province.
Comments
BC needs to have electoral and voting reform. Christy Clark is only premier due to loophole type rules. She was not voted in by her original riding and she then made West Kelowna cancel their successful candidate for her. Democracy is not being served by this woman. Also, the Court Transcript excerpts were presented which illustrated unequivocally that Christy Clark and other librral mla’s were deliberately trying to put teachers on strike. There is seriously something wrong with BC voters and electoral rules that allowed this woman in. .She was a bar maid before she got into politics….. remember “Christie’ s kitties” and the mass ethnic pin number votes? Electoral voting rules need to be reformed to keep democracy.
BC needs to have electoral and voting reform. Christy Clark is only premier due to loophole type rules. She was not voted in by her original riding and she then made West Kelowna cancel their successful candidate for her. Democracy is not being served by this woman. Also, the Court Transcript excerpts were presented which illustrated unequivocally that Christy Clark and other librral mla’s were deliberately trying to put teachers on strike. There is seriously something wrong with BC voters and electoral rules that allowed this woman in. .She was a bar maid before she got into politics….. remember “Christie’ s kitties” and the mass ethnic pin number votes? Electoral voting rules need to be reformed to keep democracy.
Some on this site absolutely hate Christy Clarke and the Liberals. They are entitled to their opinion. I for one am more than thankful that the Liberals are in power! I shudder at the thought of an NDP government. I read a comment earlier this morning regarding the Ontario “Kathleen Wynne” government and I took literary licence to change it a bit as I believe tat it also would apply to the BC NDP:
“The BC NDP Party today announced that it is changing it’s emblem to a condom because it more accurately reflects the NDP governmentâs political stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of dicks and gives you a sense of security while you’re actually being royally screwed!”
Don’t hate me, I’m just having a bit of fun with you!!
You really have to have your head in the sand to support a government that wanted to put kids out of school, that was actually trying to provoke a strike for political gain.
Seriously, think about that for a moment.
All those inner city schools that provide not only an education but also meal programs to kids. CC and her gov wanted them sent home, just to gain some political favour.
I think I’ll pass on the above comments and talk about the subject of this article.
BC’s population has been shifting away from the north for decades. Previous redistributions have added seats in other parts of the province to accommodate growing populations. That means the proportion of northern and rural seats in the legislature has declined.
What this bill does is to lock things in place. That will appeal to us in the north if we assume that the population shift will continue. But the long term effect may to be to significantly devalue the votes of people who live in the parts of the province that are growing. Look up the history of rotten boroughs in the UK if you want an extreme example.
I doubt this measure will be opposed by any party but, if I were a resident in a riding that had a substantially larger voter list than ridings elsewhere, I wouldn’t be happy. How much should the distribution of seats depart from representation by population? This legislation appears to duck that question. A future charter challenge someone?
hey hart guy you must really have a lot of money because Christy is using it faster than we make it. 11 billion to the red the last year alone, 63 billion in debt since these loony tunes took power…….SOS IF THIS DOESNT CONCERN YOU THEN YOU HAD BETTER GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE SAND
ice, I’ll concede that I’m a “right wing” wing nut if you’ll concede that you’re a left wing “nut job”! With that being said, if you could stop “shouting” for a second, I would hope that you would agree with me that the solutions to our problems usually lies somewhere in the middle!
Getting back to the actual subject of this thread, I agree with much of what bubba5 says on this matter. I’m not so sure that our population will continue to shift away from the north. Changes may or may not be necessary but regardless of what is done, some will agree and some will disagree! Only time will tell the degree to which any party may or may not agree and if the amendments are necessary or require additional attention.
A support regional representation. Representation by population is tyranny of the majority and leaves rural less populated areas at the whim of the big cities that can not be expected to understand rural issues.
Every single state in the USA has a senate to balance majority rule. Not all are the same, but they all recognized over time that it was necessary as it is in BC.
What I would propose is to have 14 MLA’s that are elected by 7 regions of the province, with 2 regional MLA’s per region. These regional MLA’s would sit in the legislature with all the others and vote like all the others, but together would have a veto power over legislation from the whole legislature with a 65% threshold. A kind of internal check and balance on the power of the governing party… a check and balance with a regional orientation.
7 regions would include…
– Peace Region
– Northwest and Central Coast Region
– Central Interior Region
– Okanogan Region
– Kootenay Region
– Lower Mainland Region
– Vancouver Island Region
I don’t think this would cost any more then the current legislature costs, and could be done without any constitutional changes needed. Most of the legislative norms are not set in law anyways… such as an unelected Premier being the leader of a party and not an elected member of the Legislature… so why not regional MLA’s with a combined veto power over the pure majority?
I HAVE TO AGREE WITH HART GUY…..THE NDP SHOULD CHANGE THEIR NAME TO CONDOM PARTY….. they are the reason we are stuck with Christy Clark.
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