Electoral reform needed in New Brunswick

CBC News:

New Brunswick voters head to the polls in less than a week and could once again elect a majority government with a disproportionate number of MLAs.

New Brunswick's political history is dotted by examples of parties that have been shut out of the legislature despite gaining a significant share of the popular vote or winning a majority government despite being beaten in popular support.

Shawn Graham's Liberals won power in 2006 despite losing the popular vote to the Progressive Conservatives. Frank McKenna's Liberals won 100 per cent of the seats in 1987 but only received 60 per cent of the popular support.

Paul Howe, a political scientist at the University of New Brunswick, writes in an election analysis for CBC News the next provincial government should immediately start a public consultation process that would lead to a referendum on reforming the electoral system.

"There is a need to educate and inform the public about different aspects of our democratic institutions, including the electoral system, before pressing ahead," Howe writes.

"As people learn more, they tend to realize that electoral reform is not complicated — the mechanics of PR [proportional representation] are simple enough and the choice between systems really boils down to a question of the types of democratic values people consider most important."

Electoral reform is not a new subject in New Brunswick.

Former premier Bernard Lord started the Commission on Legislative Democracy, which offered a comprehensive list of reforms, including the adoption of a mixed member proportional electoral system.

The electoral scheme would elect a certain number of MLAs from larger constituencies, similar to the current first-past-the-post model. But a second group of MLAs would come from party lists based on popular support.

Lord promised to put the concept to a referendum during the 2008 municipal elections, but he was ousted from office in 2006 by Graham's Liberals. The Liberals did not follow through on the referendum.

The Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives have ignored the idea of changing the way governments are elected in their current platforms.

The NDP and the Greens support switching to a model of proportional representation.

Broken system

Green Party Leader Jack MacDougall, who was a Liberal organizer before joining the upstart party almost two years ago, said the 1987 McKenna sweep was proof the electoral system was broken.

"We all knew on election night that this system is broken," MacDougall said.

"If ever there was evidence that the system is broken it's the election of '87. And 23 years later, we're still in the archaic position of first past the post."

Other provinces have recognized the importance of shaking up the voting system.

British Columbia's voters rejected electoral reform in 2009, defeating the proposed shift to a proportional representation system by a wide margin.

The B.C. government set up the referendum so voters needed to approve the switch in 51 ridings but it succeeded in only a handful. The move to proportional representation also needed to receive 60 per cent of the ballots cast, but got only 39 per cent of the votes.

A similar B.C. referendum failed in 2005, when nearly 58 per cent voted in favour of adopting the new system. However, more than 60 per cent of B.C. voters would have had to approve the new system for it to pass.

P.E.I. voters also shot down a pitch to overhaul the electoral system in 2005. The no side voted 63.58 per cent against reform.

Learning from other votes

The UNB political scientist said New Brunswick can learn from the failed votes in other provinces.

Howe said a thorough public consultation would need to be done to explain how the voting system would work and the ramifications.

But he also said there must be a publicly funded pot of money for both sides to educate voters.

Howe said the referendums in the provinces failed partly because there was not enough time or effort put into informing the citizens about the potential reforms.

"Many voted against PR systems in these places because they were persuaded that they were too complicated and that the status quo was the safer option," he said.

"A commitment to examine the options and inform the public about this key pillar of our electoral democracy is the least we can expect of all our political parties."