Preferential Balloting for British Columbia

Whereas a referendum on BC-STV election system, a form of electoral reform, held in conjunction with the 2005 provincial election, was approved by almost 58\% of the votes cast, and

Whereas Premier Campbell refused to implement this electoral reform and instead promised a new referendum on the issue -- to be held in 2008 -- followed by the introduction of the BC-STV election system for the 2009 election, if the referendum was approved in 2008, and

Whereas Premier Campbell has since decided to break his promise to hold a referendum on electoral reform before the next provincial election and hold the referendum in conjunction with the 2009 provincial election: citing the high costs and heavy workload in implementing the BC-STV election system in time for the 2009 election, and

Whereas Premier Campbell plans to conduct the 2009 election using the current first-past-the-post system, which is opposed by the majority of BC voters, and

Whereas there is a much better system available, called Preferential Balloting that could be implemented with very little cost and effort, as it does not involve changing electoral boundaries,

Therefore, we petition Premier Campbell to implement Preferential Balloting for the 2009 provincial general election.

We also petition Premier Campbell to hold the referendum on the BC-STV election system in conjunction with the next provincial election in 2009, and to include the option of Preferential Balloting for future elections on the referendum ballot.