BY JORDAN BROWN
GUEST OPINION
Prince Edward Island is a small province, but we are known across our country as punching above our weight. We are rightly proud of our province and our identity as Islanders. And we believe that the best decisions for our Island are those that are made by Islanders.
That’s why the new Electoral System Referendum Act ensures that it is Islanders who will determine the outcome of the referendum on our democratic system. Our government believes that Islanders should be the ones deciding their destiny and the legislation presents a fair and balanced playing field to achieve just that.
Unfortunately, there are others who seek to influence the outcome of the referendum and use our province as a test lab. They would prefer that big, outside money is spent to seal their preferred outcome.
RELATED: Referendum vote threshold changed
This newspaper recently ran an opinion piece by the vice-president of Fair Vote Canada. This organization has outright said that it plans to spend money to use our province to try and claim a victory in British Columbia. It has stated: “P.E.I. is tiny. With the money to hire a campaign organizer, PR supporters can literally knock on every door” and “the result of the P.E.I. referendum will either help the Yes campaign in British Columbia - or help the opponents.”
Islanders are known for their political involvement. Political parties – regardless of stripe – have long counted on local volunteers and recognize that the liveliest debates take place between friends and neighbours. Unlike other jurisdictions, we don’t rely on professional political campaigners who are flown in from out of province to try and sway voters.
The referendum act values our province’s long-standing interest and participation in democracy and allows all Islanders to participate. The media will also have an important role to play. We have also worked with all MLAs.
While the Green Party is complaining about the amount of substantial debate and the collaborative amendments, last year Peter Bevan-Baker had the opposite complaint – that not enough time is spent considering legislation or considering amendments. Ultimately, he called the work of all MLAs a farce and was ejected from the Legislative Assembly.
At the very beginning of this process, I met with the two Opposition parties and told them that government recognizes this is a historic piece of legislation on an issue of great importance to the future of our province. I told them that we expected – and welcomed – them to submit amendments to the initial bill and that we would work together with all MLAs to pass the legislation in the best interests of Islanders.
This is precisely how the Legislative Assembly should function. We worked together through a series of amendments to strengthen the legislation, incorporating many of the suggested changes from the Third Party. Many of the other changes adopted put us closely in line with the referendum legislation in British Columbia.
It is unfortunate that Brenda Oslawsky’s recent opinion piece misleads Islanders. She is wrong when she says that groups outside of official proponent and opponent groups aren’t allowed to campaign. In fact, all Islanders can participate and are encouraged to do so – that’s precisely why no union, corporate or outside money will be allowed to influence the outcome of the referendum. After all, on a topic as important as the future of our democratic system, this should be a referendum for Islanders, by Islanders.
- Jordan Brown is Justice Minister and Attorney General for Prince Edward Island.
