Columnist wrong about proportional representation

Published 12:30 pm Thursday, September 11, 2025

I disagree with Thom Barker's statement, "I'm not entirely sure proportional representation would work any better than the first-past-the-post system we currently have" ("Re Here we go again… is it time for PR in B.C.?", The Northern View, Aug. 21, 2025).

A list of all the benefits of proportional representation would reassure him that PR is indeed a much better system than our present first-past-the-post system.

Just one item on that list, a 50 per cent chance that when you place your ballot into the ballot box, you're wasting your vote. It will either go to a candidate who didn't get elected or to a candidate who already had enough votes to get elected and didn't need yours. Yours would be excess.

Wasted, excess, because, unlike in a first-past-the-post system, in a proportional system, every ballot would go toward electing a candidate from the party of your choice.

The end result would be that the percentage of seats a party won would equal the percentage of the popular vote that party got. In PR countries such as the Scandinavian countries, around 95 per cent of ballots cast go towards electing someone. In Canada, only around 50 per cent do.

When you cast your ballot, would you opt for a 50 per cent chance you would be making a difference, or would you opt for the 95 per cent chance?

Darryl Sturdy

Vancouver