By Doug Collins

Think tank study predicts higher costs under proportional representation

Oct 18, 2018 | 7:26 AM

VANCOUVER — A leading Canadian public policy think tank says changing British Columbia’s voting system to a form of proportional representation would likely lead to bigger, costlier provincial governments 

In a new study out today, the Fraser Institute says  there’s a heavy fiscal price to pay if British Columbia adopts proportional representation, and that’s a bigger, more expensive government in Victoria,

Next week, voters will receive mail-in ballots for this fall’s referendum on electoral reform-the third in 15 years-to decide whether or not B.C. should switch from its current “first-past-the-post” voting system to a proportional representation (PR) system.

Lydia Miljan, Fraser Institute senior fellow, associate professor of political science at the University of Windsor and co-author of Electoral Rules and Fiscal Policy Outcomes in British Columbia, says 

coalition governments, a staple of PR systems, regularly have to secure smaller, niche parties by funding their pet policy projects, which means more expensive government paid for by taxpayers.

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Put another way, governments elected under PR are nearly 30 per cent bigger than governments elected under first-past-the-post.

Miljan said before British Columbians decide how they want to elect members to the legislature, they should be aware of the consequences of any new voting system.