Proportional respresentation increases democracy
Re: “NDP threatening democracy with proportional representation”, (Oct. 11, Citizen)
Mr. Marlett could not be more mistaken.
Proportional representation INCREASES democracy. As it stands now with first past the post, we vote for representatives who usually represent a political party. Because of vote splitting, or because some ridings have many voters who always favour one party, many voters never elect a representative who brings their particular concerns to the legislature.
Proportional representation simply means that the Liberal voter in a “safe” NDP seat will have a voice in the legislature (or vice versa for a Green voter etc.). There are many other advantages to well designed PR systems: fewer abrupt changes from one government to the next, less adversarial hyper partisanship, better long-term planning. In short, the only ones disadvantaged by PR are those who hope that they can seize all the power with only 40 per cent (or less) of the vote.
Bet Cecill
Gibsons