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“I will be asking citizens to embrace proportional representation,” vowed Horgan late last year, in the course of an interview where he expressed hopes of bringing “maybe even Bill Tieleman on side.”

Tieleman speaks for New Democrats who fret that abandonment of the current first past the post system (FPTP) means the NDP will never again form a majority government.

“Well, we haven’t formed a majority government since 1996,” replied Horgan when I put that concern to him during an interview last year on Voice of B.C. on Shaw TV.

Nevertheless, the electoral math from the three elections under FPTP where the NDP did form majority governments plausibly supports Tieleman.

In 1972, the New Democrats under Dave Barrett won a majority of the seats in the legislature with just under 40 per cent of the popular vote. The Social Credit, Liberal and Conservative parties, each positioned to the right of the NDP, took a combined 60 per cent of the vote.

With that share of the vote under proportional representation, the three parties would have been well positioned to form a right-of-centre coalition and relegate the NDP to Opposition.

In 1991, the New Democrats under Mike Harcourt won a majority of seats with just over 40 per cent of the popular vote. Two parties to the right of them, Social Credit and Liberal, took a combined 57 per cent of the vote.

With that share under proportional representation, they could have formed a governing coalition with a comfortable majority in the house.