The Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) has adopted a proponent position on proportional representation.
The motion to adopt the position was passed at the CCSS’ June 25 council meeting. A provincial referendum regarding proportional representation—where the number of seats a party gains is proportionate to the number of votes cast for it—will be held this fall.
The CCSS did not choose a specific type of proportional representation—there’s dual-member, mixed-member, and rural-urban—to endorse. CCSS student wellness and access director Eleanor Vannan—who brought the motion forward at the CCSS meeting—says the CCSS is also not taking a specific political party’s stance.
“Under proportional representation, there’s a fairness and equality in that every vote leads to some representation,” says Vannan.
Vannan feels that students at Camosun are intelligent enough to make the right choice for themselves.
“We have a minority government in BC right now,” she says, “and yet they had a higher percentage of the popular vote than all these other majority governments. So it just shows the irrationality of the first-past-the post counting system. The number of people that support a party really has very little bearing on who actually wins the election, and it has a lot more to do with how ridings are divided.”
CCSS executive director Michel Turcotte says proportional representation will be a positive step for the student demographic voter turnout.
“We encourage all citizens of British Columbia to study the three systems that are being proposed and make the best choice,” says Turcotte. “There will be lots of opportunity for that; even Elections BC, under the referendum rules, has a responsibility to help educate.”
CCSS external executive Fillette Umilisa says proportional representation is more inclusive than the current first-past-the-post system for students.
“For me, as a person who came to Canada in recent years— and this is going to be my first election—when I look at proportional representation, it’s around inclusiveness and getting more involved,” says Umilisa.
Turcotte says that the student society feels that proportional representation will better represent students, and that the CCSS chose to adopt the proponent position now because of the upcoming referendum.
“It’s timely for us to put our position on the record so that our members feel that it’s something that the student society thinks would better represent them,” says Turcotte.
Turcotte says that proportional representation can give students, and all British Columbians, a greater voice.
“It’s one of those almost once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for our members and for British Columbia,” says Turcotte. “It is certainly something that is worth taking part in.”
Turcotte says there is often a problem with young voter turnout, but that proportional representation is a positive step in solving that problem.
“We feel that moving towards proportional representation will help students get more engaged with the election,” he says, “because they’ll see that they can actually matter.”
Turcotte says the CCSS will take various steps to make sure students know what is going on—he says CCSS representatives may, for example, speak in classrooms—because students often face hurdles when it comes to voting.
“We want to ensure that our members are on the voters list,” says Turcotte, “which is also one of the biggest challenges facing the student demographic, because they move and don’t necessarily get registered initially when they turn 18.”
Turcotte says it’s on the student society to explain both the rights and responsibilities of being able to vote to its members.
“You need to make an informed decision,” says Turcotte. “We want our members to be engaged in what goes on around them.”
The British Columbia Federation of Students, which Camosun students are paying members of, also supports proportional representation.