Thread by @Lidsville

The NDP's rank betrayal on electoral reform is as bad for BC & our climate as its #SiteC flipflop. First Past the Post makes pivoting to address climate change v. difficult because votes don't represent a full breadth of BC views; unlike in PR, only a narrow band of us is heard.

Votes get heavily weighted at the margin of the 2 largest parties, so not only does a very narrow band of voters acquire virtually all the meaningful votes, 2 things happen:
1. both parties grow more alike
2. $$ lobbyists can easily centre huge $$$$ on influencing those voters

..so in effect, First Past the Post actually materially changes - deforms - each party itself as each chases an easily corruptible/swayable narrow margin of voters at their mutual boundary. And people wonder why the NDP is looking more & more like BC Libs & pursuing fossil fuels.

... Meanwhile corporate interests and their lobbyists - which you will notice lobbied hard to keep FPTP - laugh all the way to the bank. It's so easy, so efficient for them to game #bcpoli under FPTP. They use money & resources to sway that narrow band of voters. The fix is in.

..And then these lobbyists, corps, conservative unions spread the myth that "pro Rep lets extremists in." I had otherwise intelligent people repeat this bollocks to me. Guys: FPTP -> TRUMP. Hitler had to stage a coup to come to power because Pro Rep was blocking him. Please.

Found this 2018 video of Andrew Coyne - note: a conservative - explaining "Why #ProRep Won't Turn BC into a Dystopian Hellhole" - a long-ish presentation but entertaining and smart. NDP could have just given us Pro Rep but betrayed us.
facebook.com/voteprbc/video… #bcpoli #bcelxn2020

At around 5:00, Coyne points out that of the countries in the world that have First Past the Post, we are the only country that uses it at every single level of gov't. Most Canadians have no experience of Pro Rep at any level of voting, which really doesn't help.

It's just not normal "to have to vote for a party you dislike to prevent a party you detest from getting in." (16:25) Why have we normalized this completely unfair voting system? Why did you lie & then condemn us to First Past the Post, @jjhorgan? Answer is obvious. #BCelxn2020

@jjhorgan The key bit is at 18:00 though where he explains how First Past the Post deforms the political process and parties between elections, not just during them. This is the part we've just normalized & see as natural, but that is a srs perversion of democracy. facebook.com/voteprbc/video…

@jjhorgan "If you change the scoring system, you change the way the players play the game"