Editor,
I enjoy reading letters to the editors, but not the one written by Rod Taylor. Rod’s letter is all lies and propaganda instead of facts and reality. Rod, I suggest if you are going to be a candidate in the next provincial election, you immediately start doing your homework on research. Presently we have enough lies and propaganda from the present NDP minority government. I have done my research on this mail in ballot.
The secrecy sleeve will not be opened until the time of counting, and only after it is physically separated from the certification envelope marked with your name. This process makes it impossible to know how vote by mail ballots are marked. Envelopes are opened according to strict rules, and observers may be present to watch the process. This is the explanation I received from Elections B.C.
At the same time, Rod, have you ever wondered why Green party Andrew Weaver has never used his balance of power over John Horgan. The reason is that Andrew Weaver requires 6 years service as a sitting MLA to be eligible for the basic MLA pension which presently is approximately $35,000 per year collected when he reaches age 65. By the time, Andrew reaches age 65, this amount will be much higher because of the compound interest mounting. Come May, 2019, Andrew will have his six years in as a MLA. That is why, Andrew has never used his balance of power options, because he does not want a provincial election, in case he could not win his MLA seat again. He knows, that he cannot win his seat back again in the next provincial election, because taxpayers are mad at him for not using his balance of power.
Come May, 2019, Andrew Weaver will be a happy man once he qualifies for his basic MLA pension, the only reason he is there for.
Rod, do you ever think that John Horgan does not want this proportional representation ballot to pass. Why? Taxpayers today, want everything done for them, like when going to voting booth in a regular election and marking their ballot. In a mail in ballot, they have to do everything themselves, and they do not like that, and Horgan knows that. We all know that in municipal elections, voting turnout is very low, and many taxpayers will not bother voting in municipal elections. If Horgan made us vote for proportional representation on the day of the municipal elections, taxpayers would take the time to go and vote. They would not vote for any municipal candidate, but they would vote for their say on the proportional representation. This would make the result even greater of a yes or no vote victory, and Horgan does not want that. Horgan himself, does not know how proportional representation would work if passed and there is the possibility that the end result could have a lesser number of MLA’s in the legislature with some MLA’s being out of a job, and most important, the $105,000 per year taxpayer funded salary, which all of them are there for, not you and me the taxpayer.
Rod, in summary, vote on proportional representation is a complete farce. Why! It already exists in the first past the post system we presently use. Some taxpayers do not vote for their party of choice on voting day. Example, they decide to vote for the Green party, and then on voting day, vote for the NDP or Liberals, on the reason that the Green party could never form government. If these taxpayers stuck to voting for the Green party, you would see more Green MLA’s in the legislature than the present 3, the Green party has now. Taxpayers should vote for who they want to vote for, and not changing their votes at the last minute to keep one party out of majority and visa versa over the other. If they did that, then it is the same as proportional representation.
I rest my case.
Joe Sawchuk
Duncan, B.C.