FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Fair Vote Canada congratulates David Khan and the Alberta Liberal Party for its strong platform on proportional representation. Today’s platform announced that,
The Alberta Liberals are 100% committed to implementing a Proportional Representation (“PR”) voting system.
… An Alberta Liberal Government would implement a Mixed Member Proportional form of proportional representation.
The Liberals have also promised a referendum after Albertans have had a chance to try the system for two elections.
To date, the Alberta Liberals are the only party in Alberta that have put proportional representation in their platform, although the Green Party also has it in their policy book. The NDP had a policy for proportional representation but did not include it in their 2015 platform and have been silent on the issue while in government.
UCP leader Jason Kenney used to be a supporter of proportional representation as recently as 2001, when he made a strong case for proportional representation in the House of Commons. However, there is nothing in the UCP platform about proportional representation.
Turnout in Alberta’s 2015 election was only 57.02%, pitiful. Countries with proportional representation have higher voter turnout. New Zealand, which uses proportional representation, saw a 79% turnout in their last election.
“Voters in Alberta deserve a legislature that reflects the diversity of views of the population” says Fair Vote Canada’s President Réal Lavergne.
“In the last Alberta election, 41% of the vote gave the NDP 100% of the power. With first-past-the-post we could now see a complete policy reversal with a new government. Our electoral system is not fair to voters and does not lend itself to policy stability. Voters want a legislature that more fairly reflects how they voted and want to see parties working together to solve problems and implement policies that will stand the test of time.”
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Fair Vote Canada is a national citizens’ campaign for proportional representation.