The B.C. Legislature recently established an all-party Special Committee on Democratic and Electoral Reform that includes four NDP, two Conservatives and me, as the sole Green.
The committee's mandate includes gathering expert advice and public input to make recommendations on increasing democratic engagement and voter participation, as well as models for electing Members of the Legislative Assembly, including proportional representation. The special committee is to report on these matters to the House by Nov. 26. It will review the administration of the 43rd provincial general election and make recommendations for improvements for future elections. That report is to be delivered to the House by May 14, 2026.
British Columbia faces a long list of complex, interlinked challenges today – U.S. and Chinese tariffs, U.S. annexation threats, a crisis of affordability for everything from housing to groceries, a lack of doctors, hatred, racism, residential school denialism, accelerating climate change, intractable poverty, ballooning deficits, stalled progress on the innovation and diversification needed to transition to a post-fossil fuel, green, diversified economy to name a few.
In the face of all these dramatic public policy challenges, why is democratic and electoral reform an issue and why should we have another review of proportional representation in B.C.?
My answer is that now, more than ever, we need an electoral system that fosters collaboration instead of polarization, builds consensus rather than division, follows rather than ignores science, and mitigates and eliminates the policy pendulum swings of majority governments elected by less than a majority of voters in a first-past-the-post system.
While I support proportional representation, I will guide my work on the special committee with an open mind to considering all options, the best available expert advice and, hopefully, extensive community and constituency input. For me, much depends on the “how” of implementing democratic and electoral reform – options and approaches which cannot be easily explained because of their mind-numbing complexity are difficult to support, much less implement.
I have begun background reading to prepare for my committee work and have already come across authoritative articles that conclude proportional representation democracies – democracies where the electoral system creates a representative body that more closely reflects the public support for each political party – fare better in fighting polarization than majoritarian democracies.
There are several forms of proportional representation (PR): party-list PR, mixed-member PR, single transferable vote PR, among others. According to the British Electoral Reform Society, 130 countries in the world use some form of proportional representation while 55 countries continue to use first-past-the-post. Many of those 55 are former British colonies like Canada.
Another key challenge is improving democratic engagement and voter turnout, particularly among those who have the most to lose and the most to gain – young people under 30. We need youth to “buy in” to democracy, rather than turning away if we wish to keep our democracy strong.
The BC Green Party supports a voting age of 16 as a way of increasing democratic engagement and higher voter turnout. I look forward to the research and public input on modifying the voting age.
In my view, it is imperative that elections be administered with systems that meet the highest standards of integrity, transparency, accessibility, and procedural safeguards to avoid even the appearance of any voting irregularities. Public confidence in the administration of elections must be maintained, so I look forward to reviewing the administration of the 43rd provincial general election and making recommendations, as needed, to ensure the highest standards continue to be the case.
Constituents in Saanich North and the Islands have a great deal of wisdom and lived experience to bring to the special committee’s deliberations on democratic and electoral reform options. I invite your participation in the public engagement portion of this review.
For further information and newsletters on my work as your MLA, please check out my website mlabotterell.ca.
Rob Botterell is the MLA for Saanich North and the Islands.
