Frankly Speaking

The voting packages for the referendum on how B.C. voters will elect the next provincial government are either in the mail, or have been received. Mine came on Wednesday. Everyone on the voters' list should receive their ballots by today. If they don't, they should contact Elections BC. There is an ongoing rotating postal strike, but voters have yet to hear if there will be alternate ways to get them back to Elections BC - perhaps by dropping them off at designated locations. The municipal election is over, althoigh inaugural meetings of most new councils and school boards won't take place until next week. Now voters are being asked to cast another vote. The province is conducting a referendum, using mail-in ballots, on the issue of proportional representation. Voting was to start on Oct. 22, just two days after the municipal election. All completed ballots must be in the hands of Elections BC by Nov. 30. No date has been publicly set as to when results will ...

I wanted to share some thoughts about the B.C. provincial leaders’ debate tonight. First, moderator Jennifer Burke did a good job of explaining the format and rules beforehand, sticking to them and not letting any one of the leaders get out of hand. In general, the rules were good and gave viewers an opportunity to hear most of what each candidate was saying. Where the format fell down was when two leaders were interrupting each other after one asked a question, the other responded, and then a free-for-all ensued. On a number of those occasions, it was virtually impossible to hear what they were saying. It may make for good TV sound bites, but it turned off potential voters and added nothing of value for voters. Each leader had plenty of time to articulate their platform and the economic approach to their platform and promises. It was very helpful to hear each explain their approach to leadership, and to further explain some of their promises. The questions from viewers we...