Premier John Horgan is heading out on the summer political barbecue trail. He has been pestered all last week in question period by the B.C. Liberal caucus to release a ballot question on B.C. electoral reform for next fall's mail-in ballot on how MLAs are elected to the legislature.
His response late last week was a typical non-responsive speculation. He said that British Columbians won't be talking about electoral reform around their summer barbecues. He does not think that people need a lot of time or discussion to decide how MLAs are elected and will not release a question until this fall.
I disagree.
The electoral reform issue is a key plank in the B.C. Green-B.C. NDP supply and support agreement. A Citizen opinion column on the topic by Todd Whitcombe had 74 comments in just five days. These opinions are highly charged speculative comments on how a PR system might work. The comments are so varied people should know what the question will be so that a proper discussion can take place.
I think that another barbecue discussion this summer will be high gas prices, and whether the B.C. Green-B.C. NDP plans to kill the Kinder Morgan expansion is a contributing factor to those high gas prices.
In the highly unlikely event that Weaver, Horgan or Wilkinson happened to show up at my barbecue this summer, I know I would not offer any of the three leaders Grade AAA Alberta steak or even an Alberta Grade A burger. I would offer all three a tube steak on a plain bun.
Wayne Martineau
Fraser Lake
