The May 17th referendum on the recommendation of the Citizen's Assembly is posing problems for those who are used to supporting "their team". All too often in BC politics issues are reduced to what side is taken by which folks. As soon as leaders or their proxies of one side or the other take a position, those who don't want to bother to think about an issue know what their position is. BC-STV is different; the players cross the political spectrum.

I am joined by former Socred Health Minister and developer of private MRI clinics Jim Nielsen and former Bennett and Mulroney advisor Norman Spector in opposing STV. My former colleague Andrew Petter and former Socred Nick Loenen support the bizarre proposal. Voters cannot determine how to vote on the basis of seeing who is on which side. It is unlikely that any of the major parties will take a position; the Campbell Liberals have said that they will stay out of the debate. Green Leader Adriane Carr initially came out in strong opposition but soon retreated to a position of neutrality. The NDP has activists on both sides of the issue and it is unlikely they will drain energy needed for the election campaign by pitting those activists against each other on the issue of the referendum.

The referendum on the recommendation to adopt the Irish voting system requires voters to make up their own minds. That is why it is all the more deceiving that the question is worded in terms of whether one supports the recommendation of the Citizens' Assembly. The vote is not one of confidence in the Assembly; it is a question of whether BC should join a very small minority of jurisdictions that use STV as their voting system. Perhaps that is why the documents that offer background on the system provide nothing by way of appendices on the legislation that would have to be adopted. If a citizen gathers enough signatures to require a vote on a referendum, the documentation must by law include the proposed legislation. The Citizen's Assembly has been exempted from that transparent requirement leaving the public open to buying a pig in a poke.