Letter writer says snap election shows need for electoral reform

In a letter to the editor, Coquitlam resident Anu Verma says the governing party already held a majority in the Legislature and was able to govern. While an early election may have been legally permissible, she says voters can question whether it was necessary.

Verma says explanations based on international uncertainty or actions by the United States are not fully convincing. Foreign policy, international trade, tariffs and relations with foreign governments are primarily federal responsibilities, she writes, and a provincial election does not give British Columbia more authority over those matters. She adds that elections are paid for by taxpayers and that fixed election dates should be respected.

Among her proposed reforms, Verma says a majority government should be barred from calling an early election without a valid constitutional reason, such as losing the confidence of the Legislature. She also proposes that an MLA who leaves the party under which they were elected resign and seek a new mandate in a byelection before representing another party.

She further calls for candidates to be limited to one riding in an election, for defeated party leaders not to obtain seats through another MLA's resignation, and for sitting MLAs to resign before seeking federal, municipal, mayoral or other elected offices. Verma says rules should discourage strategic resignations and manoeuvres that create avoidable byelections and added taxpayer costs.

She says the proposed changes would strengthen accountability, reduce political gamesmanship, build voter confidence and keep representatives focused on the people who elected them. In response to the BC NDP's recent call for a general election, she urges voters to reprimand what she describes as irresponsible action and give the untested opposition an opportunity.