Dear editor,
Recent letters regarding electoral reform contain statements that make me wonder where some of these people are getting their information from.
A few weeks ago I sat through two hours of Committee hearings on Channel 121 CPAC where expert witnesses were testifying before the Electoral Reform Committee at their planning session on July 27-28. One of the speakers was Maryantonett Flumian, President of the Institute on Governance. She spoke about the reforms that took place in New Zealand where it took 10 years and two referendums before change was implemented. From some of her statements I got the impression that she felt we should “be careful what you wish for.” She didn’t see as much need for changing our voting system as more a need in the way our Parliament works.
Anyone interested in getting the correct information rather than hearsay and people who have uninformed opinions should go to the CPAC web site and click on Electoral Reform. In the archives they have videos of the hearings, discussions during Question Period and all the information about the different systems of voting. If you are going to make statements please get your facts right.
It is my opinion that we should not change our system of voting just because Justin Trudeau said so and he wants to rush it through in order to keep an election promise. Rather than change the voting system, maybe we should enable MPs to represent the wishes of their constituents by letting them have free votes in the House on Bills other then Finance or National Security rather then voting along Party lines. There might be more co-operation between parties if MPs were more accountable to their constituents rather than to the PMO.
Jan Fraser
Comox