When I was randomly chosen to be one of 160 members of the BC Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral reform, we were told that our recommendation would go to the voters in a referendum.
It wasn’t until well into the process that the BC Legislature lost its nerve and imposed a double 60% referendum requirement: 60% overall and a 50% +1 in 60% of the districts.
This news was greeted by the Assembly with a collective gasp and a moment of silence. It was clear that our elected MLAs in Victoria wanted the process to fail. They wanted to keep FPTP because they felt it served their interests.
Despite this bait and switch, we continued on, resolved to serve our fellow voters as best we could.
Later, we found out that the BC government wouldn’t be funding a comprehensive education campaign before the referendum. In response, the Assembly decided to take on this task itself and formed an Alumni Association to voluntarily speak to voters about our recommendation.
We also thought it was important for our Final Report to get to every household in the province. A scheme was devised by which we would save money eating dinners in local restaurants instead of in the hotel where we were staying. This savings made it possible for us to print up copies of our Final Report in English, French, Chinese and Punjabi before the Assembly was officially closed down. These Final Reports were then mailed to all households, no thanks to the BC Legislature.
In my apartment building, I counted the number of Final Reports in the garbage by the mail boxes. Two thirds of the Reports had been immediately thrown in the trash. Just more junk mail.
Despite all this, 57.7% of voters in BC voted yes, and over 50% voted yes in 77 of 79 districts.
Because this was so close, a second referendum was called in 2009. The government provided virtually no information material and a small amount of funding for both a Yes and a No campaign.
By this time, the public had forgotten about the Assembly and our recommendation. The second referendum also went down to defeat.