Richmond - The Editor, History repeats itself. While our Richmond Centre MLA, BC's Minister of Multiculturalism, Teresa Wat seeks input on how the government should apologize for historical injustices toward Chinese Canadians, BC's Minister of Justice introduces the proposal, "White Paper on Amending the British Columbia Electoral Boundaries Commission Act", which protects the privileged political status enjoyed by predominantly white, rural (Liberal) electoral districts.Despite great advances in transportation and communication technologies, the B.C. government clings to the typically archaic, 19th century excuse of "challenging geography" to indefinitely protect and extend the over-representation of sparsely represented regions.This proposal shelters 17 electoral districts, of which 11 are Liberal, from any kind of redistribution toward the purpose of equal representation. As a result, those who reside in these areas, will have considerably more representation. Worse, this proposal also freezes the rest of British Columbians to 68 seats, no matter how much their population increases.While some reasonable compromises, offsets and tolerances are needed in a democracy, this goes way too far!The bottom line: in 2016, when a Chinese or South Asian Canadian, more likely to live in a place like Richmond or Surrey, goes to vote, his or her vote will be worth about half to one third of a Caucasian vote in a place like Terrace or Prince Rupert. While the intentions of this white paper may be debated, the results are already clear.We should be happy to hear from Ms. Wat on this white paper. No matter how subtle the modern incarnation, let's not revive old mistakes.Gary CrossRichmond
