Dear editor,
I read with interest Bill Mcleod’s letter of Nov. 8, (Unstable German and Italian governments enough to steer voter away from PR) where, unfortunately, he brings forth a common untruth regarding proportional representation.
Specifically, his assertion that PR “encourages fringe parties such as the Rhinoceros Party, which gathered one per cent of the vote in the 1980 federal election,” would, according to Mr. Mcleod, have given them three seats in the House of Commons.
He failed to mention that in either of the three PR systems proposed in B.C., a party must receive five per cent of the vote to receive any seats.
It is highly unlikely that the Rhinoceros Party, or a Neo-Nazi party portrayed in the extremely misleading TV ads of the “No” side, would ever receive this percentage. In fact, if they did, it might be time to move!
Lawrence Vea
Courtenay