Editor:

Confused about proportional representation? Read on.

A key ingredient in any democracy is that people choose their leaders based on their values. In our current voting system we are often forced to choose between a person or a party or to vote 鈥渟trategically鈥�. The make-up of the government often doesn鈥檛 reflect the popular vote so a party may only get 10 per cent of the seats even if 30 per cent or 40 per cent of the people voted for them. Even worse, one party usually ends up with 100 per cent of the power, even if they only got 40 per cent of the vote.

Many progressive democracies around the world like New Zealand, Scotland and Germany have already fixed these problems by bringing in 鈥減roportional representation鈥� voting systems.

The referendum this week is asking if we should do the same. If you want a better, fairer voting system that really lets your vote count, answer Question #1 in favour of proportional representation. (All three options are fine so it鈥檚 OK to ignore Question #2). We鈥檒l use the new system twice, and then hold a second referendum to make sure we鈥檙e happy with it.

Dr. Ilona Hale, MD, CCFP.

Kimberley