The Citizens' Assembly

In 2001, the B.C. Liberals made an election promise to hold a Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform to examine how B.C. elections are run.

The leaders of all major political parties in BC (elected and unelected) agreed to support a non-partisan process by which voters would be randomly chosen from the voters list, given extensive training on political processes and a budget to travel around the province listening to B.C voters' election experiences. The process was overseen by Gordon Gibson, a former MLA. The Assembly would be chaired by Jack Blaney, a former president of Simon Fraser University.

160 members were chosen from across the province, a man and a woman from each electoral district plus two members chosen from aboriginal communities.

Throughout 2004, the BC Citizens' Assembly toured around the province listening to British Columbians. Very few people supported the current first past the post system, and concerns were constantly addresses regarding fairness, local accountability and whether there was enough competition and choice.

The Citizens' Assembly has a difficult task in finding a system that would balance the desire for a fair system with concerns regarding keeping local representation in the larger rural ridings.

The Citizens' Assembly narrowed in on two alternatives to replace the current first past the post system.

One was the Single Transferable Vote, a system used in Ireland and in the Australian Senate.

The second system was known as MMP (mixed member proportional) in which voters would vote for a local candidate and a system which was used in Germany.

After months of deliberation, the assembly chose to recommend the STV system. They felt it gave more control to the voter than to a political party and was the most flexible system to preserve local representation while achieving fair results.

In 2005, British Columbians voted on the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly. 58% of voters favored electoral reform, but the government had previously announced that it would only honour the results if 60% of British Columbians agreed.

However, because of the strong majority support the referendum received (greater than any party has received in the past 60 years), the government felt compelled to re-run the referendum after asking the Electoral Boundaries Commission to determine what boundaries would be for an STV election. The EBC has completed its work, so this second referendum will be held on May 12, 2009.