OTA-BC
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Press release: One Time Alliance BC looking to influence BC election results
For immediate release, Oct. 1, 2020
One Time Alliance BC (OTA-BC) is an alliance of activists who wish to create the political conditions to secure two fundamentally important outcomes: better democratic representation in the Legislature, and more robust policy on climate change and environmental issues.
In order to do this, OTA-BC is implementing an electoral strategy to increase Green and NDP seats where vote-spitting might otherwise be a problem for these two parties. We have chosen to focus on pairs of ridings where either a Green or an NDP candidate is more likely to win if the other party does not vigorously contest the election of their counterpart.
OTA-BC will support pairs of Green and NDP candidates who favour the formation of a Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform to be formed immediately after the election. This approach meshes with what Fair Vote Canada is advocating federally and in different provinces.
OTA-BC spokesperson Kathy Hartman explains the Alliance’s objectives:
With electoral reform, we anticipate a better quality of representative democracy in the future. That, in turn, has a better chance of producing governments that will make fighting climate change a top priority.
First-past-the-post is holding us back on cataclysmic issues like climate change - while countries with proportional representation produce solid environmental policies that leave us in the dust.
We advocate for an independent, non-partisan citizens assembly on electoral reform, to be created with support from all parties. We would like to see politicians acknowledging that they are in a conflict of interest with respect to electoral reform. We see a citizens’ assembly as a non-partisan way of proceeding.
We think that referenda and confusing ballot questions have sabotaged electoral reform in the past. This time, we want citizens themselves to design a reform proposal in consultation with experts and submit its proposal for consideration. We have more faith in citizens than we do in politicians.
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Media contact: Kathy Hartman, kathyhartman@hotmail.com, 778-828-3856