Campaign BC 2009 Retrospective
So it's over, and sadly, the results are much as I expected them to be. Though I'd hoped for a smaller proportion of seats for the Liberals, the punishment dealt to the NDP for their deplorable environmental platform is sufficient in my book.
From what I've seen of the results so far, my campaign went fairly well considering the amount of time/money I had to contribute and my relative inexperience from the start. A Liberal win in my riding was a near inevitability under our voting system so I'm actually quite happy with my showing.
For my part, it's really been a great experience. I've learnt a great deal about how a campaign is run, and dramatically improved on my public speaking skills. I've gained a renewed sense of confidence in my ability to represent myself in formal gatherings and I've met some really interesting people.
The people, though, that's what's been most interesting for me. Just the experience of meeting complete strangers with a unique understanding of their field, or their portion of the ecosystem was very rewarding: seniors with a serious passion about doing the Right thing by their grand-kids, and young people with that kind of passionate faith and dedication to a shared goal. This is what politics is about and I love it. If there's one lesson I am to take away from this experience, it must be no one can know everything and that there is real expertise (as well as willingness to contribute) in a variety of fields out there -- you just have to go looking for it.
Sadly, though, with the overall percentage that the Greens acquired in this race, once again we took a grand total of zero seats. And now, with STV having been defeated for its third and final time, BC will have another generation of unrepresentative politics in the Legislature.
[rant]
Joseph de Maistre said: "Every country has the government it deserves" and he was absolutely right. British Columbians have proven for the third and final time that they have no interest in better representation -- or perhaps more accurately put -- have no interest in learning about how they might be better represented.
The vast majority of anti-STV comments I've heard over the past month (with the exception of Stephen's) were largely uninformed or worse, based entirely on a combined ignorance of the subject and a disinterest in learning anything about it. BC will have exactly the government it deserves, one that operates best when the progressive majority is routinely ignored.
And for people like Stephen, who continually muddied the debate by claiming that STV wasn't as good as other options, and that the referendum needed to be more inclusive of other alternatives like MMP, thank you so much for screwing this up for the rest of us. Proportional representation is now off the table in BC for decades. Your claims that another voting system might be better might have had some merit if proposed to a minority government elected under STV, but your commitment to fear, uncertainty and doubt has ensured that this will not happen for a very, very long time.
[/rant]
The aforementioned bitterness aside, my experience has been on the whole very positive and I intend to run again if I'm still living in BC in 2013. Politics seems to suit me quite well actually -- it has, after all been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember. This whole process has been an honour and a privilege and I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to run.