Dear Editor,
[Re: Blue wave washes over Langley, Langley Advance Times, Oct. 23]
Conservatives sweep the Valley – Really?
Conservative candidates have won in all nine ridings in the valley. It looks cut and dried, so everyone go home and rejoice or lick your wounds accordingly. Lets take a closer look.
If we calculate the percentage of votes across all nine ridings, we find that Conservatives have won 55 per cent of the vote, New Democrats 40 per cent and all others 10 per cent.
The number of MLAs elected should reflect how we voted. Would you agree? Since we elect nine MLAs for the region then we should have five Conservative MLAs and four NDP MLAs, in proportion to the voting outcome.
This does not look like a Conservative sweep. It is, in fact, a First Past the Post sweep, a victory for an antiquated voting system. Half of us went home from the polls unrepresented.
Timothy Jones, Fort Langley
PS: I have the work sheets available to show how the above statements have been determined
