I address my comments to Marilyn Goode’s recent letter-to-the-editor comments on the virtues of PR. Embedded in her missive is the thought that nothing else has worked, so why not give proportional representation a chance. Talk about a strawman argument: vilify the status quo and then offer yourself as the exclusively righteous choice, albeit with questionable proof.
She might be guilty of being hostage to the fact that she feels powerless, up until 2013, because her party did not have more than one seat in the legislature and was a virtual voice in the wilderness. Now that that situation has changed, she wants the election system rigged in order to guarantee a permanent coalition of the left.
While she deplores backroom deals, what she proposes here is a long-standing deal that links two parties together to shut out the third one. I call that scary partisan politics that manipulates an election system by playing havoc with the principle of one vote, one person. The choices Goode alludes to all speak to an ulterior motive that promotes divisiveness and confusion for political gain.
Ian Malcomson
Saanich