What a shame this was. The BC Citizen's Assembly came up with a really great made-for-BC form of Proportional Representation that checked off all the boxes. It would, in fact, be a great model for a PR system in the whole of Canada.
It gave people ranked choice, it preserved and emphasized local representation, it gave opportunities to small and large parties as well as independents even within large multi-member ridings, it ensured the results were still fair and representative, and it may have even reduced the tendency toward partisanship. And it could all still easily be done with a simple paper ballot.
But the entrenched interests in the BC Liberals and NDP could not possibly give in to the will of the people… and they spent the next decade destroying the consensus for it.
https://citizensassembly.arts.ubc.ca/public/extra/stv_resources.xml2.htm
Here are their resources:
a PowerPoint/PDF: https://citizensassembly.arts.ubc.ca/resources/Weekend%20Session%20Readings/Weekend4Session2PPT.pdf
A/V presentations (in WMV format): https://citizensassembly.arts.ubc.ca/public/learning_resources/learning_materials/av.htm
And a full report and other info: https://citizensassembly.arts.ubc.ca/public/extra/deliberation_weekend4.xml.htm
It was a top-tier effort that I think the result of the referendum proved was appreciated, valued and accepted by the majority of the population across the province but which the government and political parties felt did not serve their purpose, so they shut it down.
And this is why people get so cynical.
