The website for the Citizen's Assembly says "Our webpages are getting an average of 212 visitors a day. To date, they have come from 103 countries." At that rate, even if all of the visitors were from BC and everyone visited just once, it would take almost 300 years for every voter in BC to visit the site!

The Citizen's Assembly website provides access to the documents that make up its six week crash course in electoral systems. It also provides online audio and video of meetings of the Assembly. Whatever one thinks of the exercise, the outcome could significantly increase the chance of minority or coalition governments in BC; the Assembly's website provides a wealth of material that is being ignored if it only gets only 212 visitors per day.

The Assembly's website says "At the conclusion of the "learning phase," in late March, Assembly members will prepare a preliminary report outlining those electoral systems they believe have merit and are worth further consideration. This report is intended to stimulate public discussion and kick-off the public hearing phase of the Assembly's work."

If the lack of interest evidenced by visits to the website is an indication of what awaits the Assembly when it holds 49 meetings throughout the province in May and June, then British Columbians are in for trouble when the recommendation of the Assembly is put before voters in the form of a referendum on May 17, 2005. Fundamental change should not be made on the basis of a recommendation that has not been thoroughly debated by the public. Maybe interest will increase once the Assembly publishes its preliminary report; it is more likely to increase if that report includes an indication of which way the Assembly is leaning for its recommendation, due in December. Whatever preliminary report emerges from the Assembly later this month, it needs to receive widespread publicity so as to stimulate the greatest possible public discussion. Interest will increase if the Assembly indicates, prior to the series of public consultations, what option it is most likely to recommend.

BC made a mistake once before by experimenting with a referendum on recall without a thorough public discussion of what it entailed. It would be a far bigger mistake to conduct a referendum on a recommendation to change how Members of the Legislative Assembly are chosen without having first engaged a substantial portion of the public in a discussion of what change might mean. The very low use of the Assembly's website should be taken as an early warning that more effort needs to be put into engaging the public.