The BC government has reversed its decision to silence parties and candidates regarding their positions on the upcoming referendum on electoral reform.
Elections B.C.'s interpretation of a regulation on referendum advertising was it banned parties from stating in their campaign materials a position about the May 12 referendum on adopting the Single Transferable Vote system.
“There was a lack of clarity in the existing regulation,” said Shawn Robbins, a spokesperson for the Attorney General ministry. The intention was never to restrict discussion of the referendum, he said. “I think it's good we've clarified it.”
“We're glad to have it clarified,” said Nola Western, an Elections B.C. director responsible for electoral finance.
The amended regulation, passed on Dec. 11, adds a clause saying “candidates and registered political parties may engage in referendum advertising and, for this purpose, the referendum advertising is deemed to be election advertising under the Election Act.”
Have written emails to the BC NDP previously and not once received a reply. Here's my most recent email, sent November 19th:
What is the BC NDP's position on the coming referendum on electoral reform and the system proposed by the BC Citizens Assembly, BC-STV?
Specifically,
- will your party state its support for STV?
- will your party direct Electons BC to change to STV if an absolute majority (50% + 1) of voters choose in favour of the new system, regardless of whether the government's imposed threshold of 60% is not achieved?
No answer to date, despite my sending two follow-up emails. However, the difference this time is that all emails have also been bcc'd to Fair Vote Canada and Fair Vote BC.
NB: The Green Party of BC has already come out in favour of BC-STV. The BC Liberals are known to be against it. They also set the 60 percent threshold, therefore they would reply NO to the second question.
[Updated cuz this needs to be noticed by someone in the BC NDP. Am fed up with sending them emails which never, ever get answered! What's up with that?!]
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