I hate how the leaders of parties are demonized, how negativity is all that seems to be debated in politics any longer. I have no interest in taking part in this. For the next several years I will be focusing on the positive actions that MLAs and MPs in BC take.
The core values and interests of Carole James and Gordon Campbell are more or less the same. They are seeking a prosperous, healthy, sustainably and thriving future for BC. They may approach it from different ideologies, but the end vision is very, very similar.
Choosing to hate someone like Gordon Campbell is not going to make the world a better place. Hatred and anger are destructive and do not put anyone in a good frame of mind, hatred does not lead towards good policy. Hating someone is a visionless act that gets in the way of what is important.
I would like to see some of the NDP and Liberal MLAs come together and work cooperatively on some issue. I would like to see them become colleagues in governance, but the nature of our political system works against this.
A good first step would for the legislature to change, the MLAs should be in more of horseshoe and seated in a mixed manner around the room. MLA offices should be based on where the MLAs are from and not which party they belong to. The adversarial nature of the legislature needs to be changed.
I know the people in political world will think this is polyannaish, but I believe this would be a better reflection of what the public wants of their MLAs. They want good governance from all 85 MLAs and a real role in running the province for all of them. This seems reasonable to me and has to be possible.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
So where did they go?
In October 2008 1 793 400 people voted. Last week about 1 625 000 people voted - final number out next week. That is about 170 000 fewer people voting in the BC election than the federal election. Almost one in ten people that voted in the federal election did not vote in the BC election.
BC elections have often attracted slightly fewer voters than the federal elections, but the gap has not been this big. The gap has normally been only a percent or two, not almost 10%.
This latest provincial election is big shift in BC politics, never before have people stayed away in such a dramatic increase as happened this time.
The turnout number may look bad from this election, but as a portion of the total population of BC the turnout is not as bad as the numbers were in some the 1960s elections. Specifically the 1966 election when 31.74% of the residents in BC voted in the election. This time it looks like it will have been 36.4% of the resident population that voted. I am counting everyone that lives in the province and comparing that total to the number that voted.
Governance effects all of us in BC and the people deciding the election are only a minority of the people that live. At some point there is an issue of legitimacy of the government if only a small minority decides who will be the government.
I know that the population numbers include people under the age of 18, but I do not believe there is any good reason not to let youth vote, the age restrictions is unreasonable and no basis in why we let people vote.
BC elections have often attracted slightly fewer voters than the federal elections, but the gap has not been this big. The gap has normally been only a percent or two, not almost 10%.
This latest provincial election is big shift in BC politics, never before have people stayed away in such a dramatic increase as happened this time.
The turnout number may look bad from this election, but as a portion of the total population of BC the turnout is not as bad as the numbers were in some the 1960s elections. Specifically the 1966 election when 31.74% of the residents in BC voted in the election. This time it looks like it will have been 36.4% of the resident population that voted. I am counting everyone that lives in the province and comparing that total to the number that voted.
Governance effects all of us in BC and the people deciding the election are only a minority of the people that live. At some point there is an issue of legitimacy of the government if only a small minority decides who will be the government.
I know that the population numbers include people under the age of 18, but I do not believe there is any good reason not to let youth vote, the age restrictions is unreasonable and no basis in why we let people vote.
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