My last of three short texts regarding the referendum

One aspect on which very little has been written on is the ridings under BC-STV and FPTP electoral systems. One quick look at the map will show one thing very quickly: the ridings are bigger under BC-STV! That being said, are they better?

The current system divides the territory into ridings that have roughly the same population. Simple right? Well not so much. Under the FPTP electoral system, democracy can be rigged by controlling the geography of ridings. This is actually very common in the United States and it is called gerrymandering.

In Canada, there is less gerrymandering. The main reason is that in Canada, independent commissions draw the ridings; while in the United States, it is the congressmen themselves that draw up these districts. After each election, these are redrawn to maximize their probability of being elected. Look here at Florida’s 3rd district for example!

Even though nothing prevents these commissions to be partisan, the situation has remained fairly civilized north of the border. But I have a feeling that with governments and political parties being less and less cautious about political manipulation, it is just a question of time before we get to that point too.

And here is another reason why I like BC-STV: gerrymandering is impossible under BC-STV ridings. Effectively, ridings being bigger and more competitive, geographic manipulation cannot assure re-election!

In addition of getting rid of gerrymandering, another thing I noticed from the BC-STV map is that these ridings make sense. Under FPTP ridings, quite often the ridings are weird, being in the middle of a neighbourhood for no reason. What makes the people living north of 49th street so different from the people living south of it?

Under BC-STV, ridings make much more sense. Burnaby-New Westminster is… Burnaby and New Westminster. Under BC-STV, ridings tend to correspond much more to geographic entities that are known to everyone. There are almost no artificial lines that have no social, regional or even municipal meaning.

Ridings under BC-STV make much more sense and correspond to real entities: regions, municipalities, etc.  That makes BC-STV impossible to manipulate through gerrymandering. The ridings under the current electoral system can be manipulated by political interests!

Remember to vote on May 12, polls are open from 8AM to 8PM. If you don’t know where to vote, contact ElectionsBC.

Frédéric Van Caenegem