In learning I had written a book on PR (shameless plug),
a member of the public (a resident of BC) said
how yea, that thing that its supporters could not explain well enough to get anyone to vote for.
After I picked my jaw up from the floor, I replied
Actually the 2005 referendum in BC showed that a majority of the voters were in favour of change, just the government refused to accept the decision, saying that 58 percent in favour of change was insufficient although themselves being elected with just 46 percent of the vote.
And the whole point of my book, I told him, was to show that not only could PR be explained but that it was actually used for eight elections in Alberta and nine elections in Manitoba. That was STV, a district-based PR system.
He said he had never heard about that.
Yes, I said, No one seems to know about it. It is like what Jane Jacobs was talking about in her book The Dark Ages Ahead. Not only have we lost something but we have forgotten what we have lost.
He thanked me for having enlightened him ...
True story.
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My book is called When Canada had "Effective Voting". STV in Western Canada 1917 to 1917. (It is available through AbeBooks and Alhambra Books in Edmonton.)
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