“It’s now or never John. What are you afraid of?” – Andrew Wilkinson
REFERENDUM ballots are in mailboxes throughout B.C. and the NDP refuses to debate this critical issue in public, say BC Liberals.
Last week the NDP abruptly paused debate on Bill 40, which commits government to yet another referendum in the future.
“One rigged process isn’t enough for the NDP,” says BC Liberal Opposition Leader Andrew Wilkinson. “They’re trying to play games with today’s democracy, and are stifling debate on another half-baked law they made up in order to hold another referendum in the future.”
The BC Liberals say they continue to bring forward concerns in the Legislature but the NDP keep shutting down debate.
“This is a message to British Columbians: this minority NDP government is trying to change the way we elect MLAs in order to stay in power,” says Wilkinson. “They don’t want us talking about this referendum or the next one they’re already planning, and they don’t want British Columbians learning the details about any of it.”
BC Liberals say Wilkinson has challenged Premier John Horgan to a live, televised debate on the referendum which was designed in NDP political backrooms. Despite repeated attempts to make this happen, the Premier refuses to commit to a date.
“The NDP are counting on low interest, low awareness, and low turnout for this mail-in ballot,” says Wilkinson. “It’s crystal-clear that this referendum has been rigged from the start, and the more British Columbians learn about it, the less likely they are to vote in favour of it.”
The NDP are playing fast and loose with the freedoms and democracy of British Columbians, and continue to hide critical details from the public. Wilkinson is urgently calling on John Horgan to commit to a date for a televised public debate.
“If this debate doesn’t happen within the next week, it will be too late for British Columbians to inform themselves on this critical issue,” says Wilkinson. “Horgan has had nearly a month to schedule this debate but has ragged the puck. It’s now or never John. What are you afraid of?”
I think it is rather ironic that the leader of the Liberal party accuses others of “rigging” a referendum on Proportional Representation and of “Trying to play games with today’s democracy,” when it was his very own party that rigged two referendums in the past, just so his party could keep their grip on BC’s legislature with a voting system that favored them. The First Past The Post system distorts democracy, it does not improve it. An improvement to democracy would be a system which elects MLAs to represent views at about the same proportion as those views are held in the province by voters. Forcing people to choose between two options distorts democratic representation, but any of the PR systems being proposed to voters would improve that. Democracy is better served by PR than FPTP. The Citizens’ Assembly said so, until Wilkinson’s party undermined that by artificially inflating the level of support required for it to be approved from the traditional, democratic 50% plus 1 to an arbitrary 60%, knowing that would not be reached and their seats would be safe. How self serving!