BURNABY – Last night, CUPE BC hosted two telephone townhalls for CUPE members in B.C. to talk about the provincial referendum on proportional representation. A significant majority of participants in both townhalls indicated that they support moving to proportional representation.
“With a membership of more than 92,000 people, we had to put on two separate townhalls in order to have enough capacity for all members to participate,” said CUPE BC president Paul Faoro. “Both townhalls included members from all regions of the province, and support for proportional representation was strong in all regions.”
Featuring a recorded message to CUPE members from Premier John Horgan and a comprehensive presentation on pro-rep by Maria Dobrinskaya from Vote PR BC, the two telephone townhalls kicked off CUPE BC’s member-to-member campaign to support a “Yes” vote in the referendum.
“For me, moving to proportional representation is about fairness,” said Faoro. “All we have to do is look to Ontario, where Premier Doug Ford, who won 100 percent of the power with just 40 percent of the vote, is systematically attacking workers’ rights, to see how unfair the existing first past the post system really is.
“And we can also look to the example of New Zealand, where proportional representation has been hugely successful and has led to less confrontational partisan politics in the legislature, with more positive outcomes for people.
“If we come together and vote yes on this referendum, we’ll create a fairer, more equitable voting system, where every vote truly does count.”
