The electoral referendum has me and others wondering about a few things [“Proportional representation: Why you should vote no,’ October 26].
First: Why did the provincial government feel it had to pull a stunt by taking the 60 per cent pass to 50 per cent plus one? Maybe they are following the republicans in the United States and manipulating how the government will be run.
Second: Why have three new options rather than one? It is very confusing trying to understand one option, never mind three. The Peak took several full pages to try and explain to us how these options play out. Again, I believe it is manipulation and still confusing.
Third: Why have they not told us that in the few countries where this system is used government costs have gone up by five to seven per cent, and that’s because we end up with possibly as many as eight to 10 more MLAs. Who needs more government, or wants it?
Fourth: Why is CUPE pushing its 85,000 members to vote for a particular one of these options? Is it because they could actually manipulate results by voting as a block to help their NDP friends?
The last thing I’ll mention is the fact that I’m disappointed that in one of the greatest countries in the world people can’t get off their butts to vote, as was noted with an average of 36 per cent voting in our municipal elections.
With a mail-out, many people will not even mail it in. We could have as little as 20 per cent of our population changing something (if just over half vote for change) that has made Canada a great country for over 150 years.
This whole process is way too confusing to be decided on a mail-in. Please keep first-past-the-post.
Ken Forsman
Westview Avenue
