By Frank Moher
That BC’s Libs would be re-elected was a no-brainer; they simply hadn’t done anything spectacularly incompetent enough in the last four years to get tossed-out. The breadth of their win may have something to do with their effective co-option of the environmental movement, thus drawing off erstwhile Green and NDP supporters. And the coming storm over Olympic cost overruns, which are already massive and will eventually be jawdropping, may make for a different story next time around. But for now, most BCers are content to sit tight.
That’s not quite the same thing as sitting on your ass and letting opportunity pass you by, however, which is what BCers did in rejecting the STV electoral system. (As of 1:30 a.m. this morning, they had done so by about 61 to 38 per cent.) The rap against the Single Transferable Vote was that it was simply too hard to understand, and, no doubt, that will be the favoured explanation for its failure. And that will be true; once you took a close look at it, it was pretty much impenetrable. But that doesn’t mean that Joe and Jane BC shouldn’t have been able to look at it and see plainly that, on its surface, it would make their votes count for more. The party apparatuses might still have had the upper-hand, but the individual voter would have had significantly more influence on who ended up in the legislature.
But no, no thanks, we’ll just sit here and stare at our shoes, thanks very much. One presumes that those who voted against STV because of its complexity will this morning refuse to use their computers and cell phones, because they don’t quite understand how those work either. It’s a great way to run a province — at least for the people already running it.
In a way, I’m ashamed of myself for not voting, but at the same time, I’m ashamed of the government and the media for keeping most of the population (or at least those without a Ph.D in Political Science) in the dark about the current issues, the appropriate solutions and the and the actual benefits of the BC-STV system. I wonder how many people like myself leafed through the Times-Colonist every morning for the last 2 months begging for there to be information, any information that would make it clear who would be the better representative.
Not that I expect the issues or policies to be dumbed down for everyone, but I think the majority of people just don’t get it. Look at how many people actually voted yesterday. Surely there must have been others like myself that felt so uneducated and ill-advised from friends and family that it was almost our duty NOT to vote, for fear of screwing things up. Yes, it may be the voter’s responcibility to educate themselves, but I feel the candidates gave just enough superficial information to peak voters’ interest, yet not enough to provide a solid reason for people to vote as they did.
While I have no issues with the current government (or if I do, I don’t know what they are…), I do have issues with being left out of the political loop. I felt like my vote wouldn’t matter and in 2009. That sort of apathy is awful to admit, yet to be perfectly honest, I don’t think it’s my fault. Perhaps democracy is an illusion, and the only people fortunate enough to make their opinions count are those who are well versed in political rhetoric.