Carole James' Charge to the BC Citizens' Assembly

Original text at http://www.bcndp.ca/node/1218. Emphases ours.

James presents to Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform

June 17, 2004

Kamloops -- British Columbia needs to adopt a made-in-BC electoral system that better reflects our province's diversity and opens the doors to participation in the political process, NDP Leader Carole James said today.
James presented the BC NDP's position on electoral reform to the Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform in Kamloops today.

She reiterated the BC NDP's support for the Assembly's work and stressed that political parties should take a back seat to citizens in the development of a proposal for reform.

The elements of the BC NDP's position on electoral reform adopted at its 2003 convention include the adoption of an electoral system that provides greater proportionality in the allocation of seats while ensuring significant local representation, in particular representation for rural and remote regions.

"We recognize that the Citizens' Assembly faces a formidable challenge in attempting to design an electoral system that will meet the needs of British Columbians," James told the Assembly. "We need a made-in-BC solution to the ills that beset our current voting system. In our view, proportionality and local representation must be the key ingredients of a new electoral system for British Columbia."

Joy MacPhail Calls for Citizens' Assembly

March 2002. Original text at http://www.bcndp.ca/node/1404. Emphases ours.

NDP calls for non-partisan approach to electoral reform - March 15, 2002

New Democratic Party Opposition leader Joy MacPhail today proposed a framework for a non-partisan review of B.C.'s electoral system to Premier Gordon Campbell. "In the past decade a consensus has been emerging among people of all political persuasions on the need for substantive reforms to our political institutions," said MacPhail. "Mr. Campbell himself has recognized this with his New Era commitment to appoint a citizen's assembly on electoral reform."

"The New Democratic Party urges the B.C. government to honour their election commitment and move forward with a process of public consultation on the design of a more proportional electoral system." MacPhail stressed the importance of ensuring a non-partisan approach to electoral reform, citing the need to ensure that BC's regional diversity and unique geography is given fair representation.

"It would be a step backwards if one party or partisan organization were to design a voting system or determine electoral boundaries. If British Columbians are to have any confidence in their voting system, it must not be perceived to further any partisan interest."

The proposed framework is outlined in an open letter addressed to Premier Campbell. A copy of the letter can be viewed on the B.C. NDP web site. Go to:

www.bc.ndp.ca/news/020315_PRlet.pdf

Several organizations committed to electoral reform have welcomed the directions of the NDP proposal.

"A fair electoral system has to be developed with a fair process," said Stephen Phillips, chair of History and Political Science at Langara College. "The NDP proposal is inclusive and sensible."

During the 2001 provincial election, the B.C. Liberal's New Era platform committed to "appoint a Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform to assess all possible models for electing the MLAs, including preferential ballots, proportional representation, and our current electoral system."

Premier Gordon Campbell's Speech Supporting the Establishment of the Citizens' Assembly

April 28 2003. Original text available at http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/37th4th/h30430p.htm. Emphases ours.

Hon. G. Campbell: I move Motion 99 standing in the name of the Attorney General on the order paper.

[Be it resolved that this House supports the creation of a Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform as expressed in the terms of reference and duties of the chair tabled in the House on Monday, April 28, 2003.]

I am pleased to stand today in support of this motion. It is a long time. In fact, this has never happened before, where a legislative body has said to the people who elect them that they want the advice of the public on how we should elect our elected representatives in the province of British Columbia. Indeed, if you go back to 1858, this is the first time in 145 years we are actually giving the people of British Columbia a direct say in how they should elect the MLAs that are meant to serve them. After all, in a democracy, we should remember we are here at the service and the pleasure of the people of this province.

On April 17, 1999, while I was still in opposition, I said that it was time we gave the people of B.C. the right to demonstrate how they want to elect their MLAs. I am proud to stand here today and say that this is the first government in the history of British Columbia — this is the first government in the history of our country — that has given the people that right.

There is no more fundamental tenet that we agree to as we seek office than that in a democracy, the rules of the democracy should be designed by the people they serve, not by the power brokers who may wish that the democracy worked in their interests. It is by turning to the people and trusting the public that I believe we can re-establish the critical link between our democratic institutions and those that they are supposed to serve.
I said before, as we entered office, that we wanted to try to restore and re-establish the trust of the public for their public institutions. I can think of no more important way to do that than for those of us who are fortunate enough to be elected and to serve in these institutions to trust the public, to trust the public's judgment and to trust the public wisdom as we fashion a legislature that will truly meet the needs of every single part of this great province.

Today we are debating a motion that will make our commitment to the people of B.C. a reality. The citizens assembly, as I said, is a first for British Columbia. It's interesting that since 1949 — between 1949 and 2001 — there was not a government in this province that was elected by more than 50 percent of the popular vote. There have been people that have asked legitimate questions with regard to how we elect our elected representatives. The former MLA Nick Loenen, who has looked at this and examined this for some time, has some suggestions for how he thinks we could improve the system. I know members of this chamber, having experienced it, will have their own suggestions.

The critical thing for us to recognize is that in a democracy, the open sharing of information, the open search for solutions to reform, to reinvigorate and to revitalize our public institutions should be an ongoing learning experience. It should be an ongoing search for discovery of what will do the best for the people that live in our province. I am proud to support this motion, and I am proud to be part of a legislature that has tabled it in the hopes that we can create that revitalization.

These decisions should be made by those who elect us. Last September the government asked Gordon Gibson, a former member of this House, a former leader of a political party in the province but, more importantly, someone who has spent his life examining our public institutions in Canada and here in British Columbia…. We released Mr. Gibson's report, and I recommended both to members of this assembly and to members of the public who are interested to look at the various issues Mr. Gibson dealt with and the recommendations he came forward with. It is his recommendations that form the foundation for the motion which is before this House today.
There are some critical components of those recommendations, which I believe are fundamental to both the spirit and the intent of what this government is committed to doing. We wanted as much as we could in this government to depoliticize this process, to have this process driven by citizens. As hard as it is for those of us who stand in this assembly or who sit in this assembly and serve an elected office to recognize, there are some British Columbians who aren't spending their every waking hour thinking about what we do and how we do it.

An Hon. Member: No.

Hon. G. Campbell: That's true. But for us, what we want to do is try and engage those British Columbians — all British Columbians — in looking at this, because we have a gift here. We have a gift that those of us who were born in Canada or born in British Columbia sometimes take for granted. We have a gift where it is indeed the work of the ballot, the casting of that ballot, that can constitute the momentum for change, the catalyst for change, the catalyst for strengthening our social union here in this province, the catalyst for building the kinds of communities that we want and the vehicle for imagining a future and then bringing people together to pursue that future.

I've worked and lived in a country where indeed it was not the ballot that drove those changes. It was the bullet. I've lived in a country that saw changes in government that were carried out by coup, by military fiat. I've never even come close to thinking that would happen in Canada. We're fortunate to live in a country that does take the ballot and our democratic institutions seriously. Not just seriously — they're the very foundation of our culture, our beliefs, and what we can pursue and achieve as a country and as a province.

I was not, and the government was not, wanting to cast our citizens assembly in the former moulds that we may have had in the past where political interests — where a specific interest in a specific result — drove the decisions of the assembly. I should say again that I am proud that an assembly with this makeup is willing to say to citizens: "You decide."
There is no secret. We did particularly well in the last election with the given set of rules for electing MLAs in British Columbia. There is also no secret that I believe each member of this House is committed to strengthening this institution. I believe that by giving the people of British Columbia the chance to shape this institution, we will do just that.
In keeping our commitment to people, we said prior to the election that we believed the assembly should be selected like a jury. It should be randomly selected. It should be a selection process that reaches out to each part of this province and, indeed, is reflective of the people that live here in this province. Building on the foundation of Mr. Gibson's recommendations, our recommendation that you will see in the terms of reference says that we have asked the chief electoral officer to help guide a randomly selected citizens assembly.

First, let me say this: we all know in this House that every British Columbian who is eligible to vote and eligible to be on the voters list has not necessarily registered. I would like to tell the members of the assembly and the public today that we want to encourage that registration. We will try to encourage it to take place in ways that will build our voters list and make sure that as many people as possible are registered, that we at least give citizens the chance to register.

The chief electoral officer will then be asked to stratify a sample of names. That simply does this: it provides for an equal number of names from each riding. It will provide for an equal number of men and women. It will provide for a distribution that's reflective of the age of British Columbians. Anyone who is 18 years or over and on the voters list will be eligible. Again, we want our assembly to be reflective of the generations that live in British Columbia, of the regions that exist in British Columbia and of the interests that exist in British Columbia.

Interested persons will be able to attend local selection meetings. They will self-select. They will randomly select, but they will self-select. It is important for all of us to recognize that this is an act of true citizenship. It is an act that will require those who participate to become educated, to spend time in deliberation and in public hearings across the province. I believe that it's critical that they know both their obligations and their responsibilities, as well as the timetable for action that will be laid out for the citizens assembly.

We said that we wanted membership to be representative of the entire province. There is not a member in this House that doesn't recognize what an enormous place British Columbia is, how vast our province is and indeed how vast even regions within the province can be. In terms of meeting the needs of the regions of the people who live there, we wanted to be sure that there was broad representation from each part and each corner of the province. To achieve that, the terms of reference provide a large membership of two members for each of the electoral districts that serve in this province, for a total of 158 members plus the chair, which will make the citizens assembly 159.

It is important, I believe, for us to recognize that while Mr. Gibson recommended some top-up provisions, we felt the expansion of the committee provided for more representation and more opportunity for people throughout the province.

We said we would have a mandate to hold public hearings throughout B.C. That will take place. And again, I want to say this clearly to this House. We have recommended the appointment of a chair, and as you'll know from the second motion before the House, it is suggested that a special legislative committee be established to review that nomination from the government. Should that legislative committee unanimously support the chair, then we will ask the chair to look at how this process should work, how many meetings should take place and where they should take place. But the spirit and the intent of the government are clear, and the budget for the assembly is clear. We expect those meetings to be taking place throughout the province. It's important to allow the people of our province to have not just the oral opportunity but also the written opportunity to present to the citizens assembly. That is provided for in the terms of reference.

We said we wanted to ensure clear endorsement by the assembly. Now, those of us who have been involved in public life for some time know there's nothing that can take up more time — often for fewer results — than a constitutional debate, a debate about the ifs and buts and what-ifs and maybes that take place in the world we live in. I've experienced this at the local level of government, and I've seen it time and time again where, because there is no single decision that's made, there is never a decision to improve the system, if that is indeed what's necessitated and required in the judgment of the assembly.

We have specifically asked the assembly to recommend a specific change. If the assembly recommends a change by a majority vote of the assembly, that will require at least 80 members of the assembly to support it. If the assembly recommends a change, then that option will be submitted to a provincewide referendum on May 17, 2005, just like we said it would be.

The government wants to ensure that all British Columbians have an opportunity to vote before any change is adopted. We want to be sure any change that is adopted is truly endorsed by the regions of the province and the people of the province. We believe this is a fundamental and significant change, and we therefore have placed a double approval process in place.
First, the assembly must receive a 50-percent-plus-one approval rate from 60 percent of the ridings in the province. That's important, because at the end of the day we know we have to bring the whole province together as we make these changes, if indeed they should be recommended.

Secondly, this change will require 60 percent overall voter approval. There are some who have already suggested that that is too high an approval rating. Clearly, the government disagrees with that. We believe this is a significant change. It's a significant change that should require the kind of approval that says, indeed, a great majority of people in this province feel that they will benefit from this change — that they will benefit from this change, Mr. Speaker; not that we or any given political party will benefit from the change.

I believe this is a very important step. One of the critical keystones of this assembly's success will rest in the person of the chair. It was important, I believe, for the chair to truly guide the assembly as we move forward. As you know, the government has nominated Dr. Jack Blaney, the former president of Simon Fraser University, the current chair of the Fraser Basin Council, the man who was the driving force behind the dialogue centre at Simon Fraser University, which is internationally recognized as a centre for building learning and understanding and for decisive decision-making. Mr. Blaney is known not just as a conceptual thinker but as a consensus builder. I believe he brings significant talents to the onerous task that lies ahead.

Mr. Speaker, I want to be clear about this. I certainly do not know what a citizens assembly will decide. I do know this — that given the opportunity, citizens will be creative, will be thoughtful, will be integrative, will concern themselves with our entire province, will concern themselves with how government truly can serve the needs and the ideas of British Columbians from every corner of this province.

I have confidence in the people of British Columbia. I have confidence that we have put forward before this House today a motion which will set in motion a true public debate, a true public discussion, a true public opportunity for learning about one of the critical parts of our lives: our democratic institution, our Legislature. This is a gift we've been given by previous generations. This is our opportunity to strengthen that gift. This is our opportunity to restore some of the confidence and trust that people should have in this great institution. This institution is not made up of us as individuals. Each of us has the opportunity to serve. Each of us is given the privilege of service when we come here.

I believe that in passing and supporting this motion, we will have exercised that privilege in a way that is exceptional, in a way that says we remember first and foremost that we are here at the service of the people of this province. There's no more important message that we could send.