First-past-the-post to blame as BC moves closer to a two-party system - Fair Vote Canada
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The withdrawal of BC United (formerly BC Liberals) from the BC election is nothing to celebrate. When first-past-the-post robs us of choices, we all lose.
  • Cagi
    133·
    3 months ago

    I’m in BC. It has been a 2 party system forever. Liberals and NDP have always been the only electable parties running.

    • Em Adespoton
      5·
      3 months ago

      That’s not actually true… I can remember when Social Credit was elected, and not too long ago Green was required to form a coalition after the Liberals started to fall apart… because of the Conservatives.

      In general, BC has been a 3-4 party system, with one of three being in power.

      It’s the influence of the US mindset of “Elect the premier!” that’s shifted us towards a two party system in the recent cycle… well, that and the total collapse of the BC Libs. All of that has of course been enhanced by FPTP, which encourages adversarial politics.

      • BeaverOPEnglish
        2·
        3 months ago

        Currently Quebec and New Brunswick have the most political party diversity

    • corsicanguppyEnglish
      11·
      3 months ago

      I love how you still class the (provincial) libs as electable after their performance. This shows great optimism despite us having little or nothing left to sell off for short-term gains on paper. That’s admirable, and I’m glad you’re here.

  • SamuelRJankis@lemmy.worldEnglish
    102·
    3 months ago

    Given the North American systems and current political climate we’re not only seeing more party consolidation but also parties shifting to further ends of the political spectrum.

    Will be interesting to see if the Federal Liberal survive without shifting dramatically.

    • KichaeEnglish
      11·
      3 months ago

      Well, further end, at least. There’s been very little in the way of movement leftward in the last 40 years.

      Giving a sliver of a shit about PoC and vulnerable minorities is not a shift leftward.

      • SamuelRJankis@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        3 months ago

        With the current system the only reason parties shift like that is because they have to. The Erin O’Toole 2020-22 Conservatives experimented with shifting left a bit lost the election before going PP and the far right.

        Biden and Trump were fairly close in the polls for the 2024 election with Trump being the favorite. Then Kamala replaced Biden and the campaigned policy certainly moved further left. I’m also going to drop in why the current NDP is such a failure because they randomly started shifting right when they were providing with so much opportunity for success on the other side.

        • girlfreddy
          2·
          3 months ago

          I’m also going to drop in why the current NDP is such a failure because they randomly started shifting right …

          You can thank Jack Layton for that. He moved to centrist to give the party a chance at leadership of Canada, and that’s where the party has stayed since. :(

          Now they’re a far cry from their Tommy Douglas (father of universal healthcare) and Ed Broadbent days.

  • Feathercrown@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    3 months ago

    You guys better fix this real fast before you get stuck like we are. This is not a problem that you can fix after it happens.