BC Conservatives: Debate Says More About the Liberals than About Proportional Representation

VERNON- BC Conservative interim Leader Scott Anderson said last night's debate between the BC Liberals and the BC NDP was a pointless display of loudly delivered talking points on the subject of proportional representation (PR), but ironically useful in showing the BC Liberal's true colours.

"Winston Churchill once said that 'The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter,' and it's clear that BC Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson agrees with that thought," said Anderson. "His obvious contempt for the intelligence of British Columbians is startling. What people don't remember is that Churchill's pithy quote was referencing the disinformation fed to voters, and Wilkinson and his crew are among the worst purveyors of disinformation."

During the debate, Wilkinson repeatedly claimed that British Columbians are confused by the referendum, don't understand the ballots, and are generally perplexed about the whole exercise. He did nothing to defend first-past-the-post or shed light on the three proposed reforms, but simply fired arcane questions at Premier John Horgan.

"This is just another example of the Liberals trying to confuse voters with disinformation," said Justin Greenwood, interim Deputy Leader of the BC Conservatives. "I've noticed a theme amongst the BC Liberals and more so with Mr.Wilkinson, in consistently underestimating the intelligence of British Columbians."

Contrary to Wilkinson's claims, in a letter addressed to the Legislative Assembly from the Chief Electoral Officer on 18 June, 2018, Anton Boegman said, "the questions are simple and clear enough for voters to understand."

"I warned in our first PR video that a debate would just give Wilkinson a platform to spread more misleading statements," said Greenwood. "And that's exactly what happened. Not only did he try to muddy the waters over PR, but he topped it off with jurisdictional misinformation about electoral boundaries."

Wilkinson insinuated that electoral boundaries were up to Horgan to decide and that he was keeping it from the public. In point of fact, electoral boundaries are up to the Electoral Boundaries Commission, called on by the Lieutenant Governor of BC to review boundaries every two elections as per the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act.

The BC Conservatives have taken a neutral position on electoral reform, leaving it up to British Columbians to decide, and the party continues to encourage voters to utilize the non-partisan information supplied by Elections BC in order to make an educated decision.