Thursday, May 15, 2008

Citizens' Assembly: What's expected of the 160 members?

By Dan Hilborn
Published Jan. 21, 2004


Democratic history was made in British Columbia earlier this month when the 160-member Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform met at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue to begin a year-long process of reviewing the way we vote.

The group was selected at random from the B.C. voters lists and includes one man and one woman from each electoral district, plus two aboriginals. Organizers made a special effort to ensure that the assembly members accurately reflect the age, sex and ethnic background of the province.

The group is charged with a massive task: review how the votes cast in provincial elections translate into actual seats in the legislature. To accomplish this task, they have been handed stacks of reading material, a panel of expert helpers and a long list of internet resources.

If assembly members decide that B.C. does need a new voting system, their proposal will frame a referendum question that will go directly to the voters in the provincial election of May 2005. If that change is approved by voters, the B.C. Liberal government has indicated it will put that process in place in in time for a provincial election in 2009.

At their first meeting, former SFU president and assembly chair Jack Blaney asked the assembly members to consider four key questions. They are:

- Do political parties play an appropriate role in our society and government?

- Would frequent changes of government or government leader be negative or positive?

- Should legislature seats be districted according to each parties popular vote?

What are the pluses or minuses of other electoral systems?

- And should we change our current system or stay with the one we have?

"Starting today, we have an incredible and unique opportunity and an equally incredible and unique responsibility," Blaney said in his opening remarks to the assembly. "To our knowledge, nowhere, at any time in a democracy, has a government asked non-elected citizens to undertake such a commitment, and then given those same citizens such potential power over an important public policy question.

"This day is indeed historic and we - all of us here - are all part of that history. Now isn't that just absolutely wonderful?"

Don MacLachlan, associate director of communications for the assembly, said if the committee can come to a single conclusion, the government has committed itself acting on that recommendation.

"Normally, when a country has reformed it's electoral system, the reform by a very large degree has been done by insiders," MacLachlan said. "Very often, but not in all cases, it's the politicians changing the rules of the games they're playing.

But this assembly is totally different. These people aren't insiders, they aren't candidates and they're as independent or apolitical as you can get.

"Normally, if the government doesn't like the report it goes on a top shelf never to be seen again. Not here. If this group recommends a change, then the change will go to a referendum along with the provincial election in 2005," MacLachlan said.

The assembly will meet six times during its learning process, while it studies voting systems around the world, and then hold more meetings this fall where they will work on the final recommendation.

Its final report must be made to the legislature by Dec. 15.

At their first meeting, each of the assembly members, including those from Burnaby and other Lower Mainland communities, were put up in a hotel.

"Certainly, for the first meeting we wanted people to stay together in the hotel and take the opportunity to know each other a little better," said MacLachlan. "We kind of encourage people to do that. They put in long hours."

"I know some of the people feel a bit less involved when they go home at the end of the day, but I've also heard others saying 'Hang on, I don't need a hotel.'"

The Burnaby NOW will be following the deliberations of the local committee members throughout the year. For more information, visit their official website at www.citizensassembly.bc.ca.

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