The Richmond Chamber of Commerce is hosting a free public debate on Sept. 20 about the upcoming provincial referendum, which will decide what voting system should be used in B.C.

The referendum will be held by mail from Oct. 22 to Nov. 30. Questions centre on whether B.C. should keep the current voting system (first-past-the-post) or switch to proportional representation (PR), in which the number of seats a party has in the legislature reflects its share of the popular vote.

article continues below

“The result of the referendum is important to the democracy of British Columbia. We want chamber members as well as the community at large to be as educated as possible on this issue,” said Matt Pitcairn, CEO of the chamber.

The debate features keynote speakers, Andrew Weaver, leader of B.C. Green Party, who supports PR and Jas Johal, MLA of Richmond-Queensborough, who opposes PR.

The debate will also have panelists from official opposition sides, such as Maria Dobrinskaya and Amandeep Singh from the Vote PR BC, and Bill Tieleman and Suzanne Anton from the No BC Proportional Representation Society.

The debate will take place at KPU Wilson School of Design from 5:15 to 8:15 p.m. A live stream will be available on the chamber’s Facebook page.