Blogs

Here's a Mother's Day thought from Citizens' Assembly alumna Shoni Field, who has been one of our highest-profile advocates for the adoption of BC-STV.  

Spending the morning with my kids, and all I want on mother’s day is a democracy they feel is worth participating in. Watching the rates of 18-30 year old voters nosedive election after election, I wonder who will be left voting when my son is eligible to vote?

This blog article was originally posted by Robert Jago on May 5, in the Canadian Provincial Politics section of The Western Standard

Christy Clark, former Deputy Premier, and now host of "The Christy Clark Show" on CKNW, campaigned AGAINST BC-STV in 2005.  Now she is asking everyone to vote YES. Here, from the CKNW website, is the full text of why she has had a change of heart.  The original post is at http://www.cknw.com/blog/christys_bc_15/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10031397

BC-STV received a ringing endorsement from one of Canada's best known commentators, Andrew Coyne of Maclean's Magazine.  Whether you agree with his other opinions or not, on BC-STV he is clear that this vote is important, not only for us here in British Columbia, but for the rest of the country as well.  As large numbers of people head to the polls in advance voting this week, please keep in mind that BC-STV is good for fairness, representation and democracy.  And vote YES!

Here's Bruce Hallsor, on the road from Kamloops. Thanks, Bruce, for the update!

Watching the local Kamloops news last night, I saw a great piece on STV that used our TV ads as part of the story.  It shows how professional and informative our ads are in comparison to the amateur production value and ridiculous scaremongering of the NO ads.  In my travels over the past week, I have heard lots of people tell me that this is their observation as well.

Here's another entry from Nick Loenen, who's been on speaking tours around the province, but lives in Richmond.  It's another terrific story of the energy and enthusiasm of our volunteers.

Jim is a wonderful sign master. He had placed a dozen on the grassy median down Steveston Highway (Richmond) for the 3 or 4 city blocks where cars are thicker than ants, 24/7.

There, our signs stood for a week, beacons of democracy, inviting all to Power Up Your Vote! Wonderful, until the Park Board grass-cutting crew threw them aside.

I'm forwarding this from the blog of one of our more active volunteers, Crystal Ocean. Her blog, Challenging the Commonplace, is full of passion and enthusiasm for the BCSCV system.

This hilarious story arrived in my inbox from someone working for their local candidate:

While a fellow campaign worker was in the office, a man called in to say he wasn't happy because there weren't any [John Doe] signs up.

Bruce Hallsor, Shoni Field and Nick Loenen have been touring around British Columbia, telling people from Terrace to Trail about BC-STV, and building support for the Yes side in the referendum. Here is Bruce's latest note, as he leaves for northern BC:

I am off to Prince Rupert Now for a start of my six city quick tour across the North.  I always look forward to going back to my hometown.  I am especially excited this time because I know that STV will be especially good for northern and rural voters, who are the most left behind in our current system.  Instead of 85 seats, of which nearly 2/3 are in the lower mainland or south Island, under STV the province will be split into 20 seats, with each one having a single swing seat. 

Here's the second in our series of "Tales from the Trail".  Nick Loenen has been travelling all around BC talking about how BC STV works. Here's a story that comes from the Shuswap Valley.

I have been privileged to make many presentation explaining how STV works and what its likely affects will be on BC politics and government. Often the best contributions come not from me but from the audience and sometimes in unexpected ways.

Today we're starting a new series in this blog: Tales from the Trail. We are collecting stories from people around the province on their experiences as British Columbians for BC-STV gets the word out about the BC-STV referendum. Here's a post from one of our spokespersons, Bruce Hallsor of Victoria BC:

"At church this Sunday, a place where I never discuss politics, and a place where I have not been for a while because of various STV speaking engagements, I found that the vast majority of people were aware of STV and felt very positively about it.