A new web-based app lets constituents track the way their MLA votes in Victoria.
Members of Imagine X, a grassroots political advocacy group, created the MLA Voting Records App.
It shows the way MLAs voted in 109 recorded standing votes in the B.C. Legislature from 2013 to 2016.
For Sea to Sky MLA Jordan Sturdy, it shows he voted for every bill and item that was proposed by his party and against everything proposed by anyone from another party.
But Sturdy is not alone in this. In only two incidents from 2013 to 2016 did any MLAs vote against party lines.
Not surprisingly, because of the dominance of Liberals in the legislature, any item or bill brought forward for a vote by Liberals always passed while every vote initiated by anyone else in the legislature always failed.
This “whipped” or adversarial system is a problem, says Imagine X spokesperson Fred Bantados, because constituents’ wishes may not be represented by those they elected.
“When you see a pattern such as this where all Liberals are on one side and all the NDP on the other side, it raises the question, ‘Are you representing me as a constituent or are you representing the party – who are you representing?’”
Logically, it would seem certain issues would be specific to a particular geography and lead to a different vote in the legislature, Bantados said.
“What we are trying to get across is are you holding your MLA accountable?”
Imagine X is not affiliated with any political party and the group is self-funded, according to Bantados.
Sturdy, who previously served as mayor and councillor in Pemberton before moving to provincial politics, acknowledged the more adversarial system of the legislature took some getting used to.
“Clearly it is an adversarial system, there’s no question about that, and that is certainly something that I had challenges with, coming from a municipal system, which tends to be more consensus based,” he said.
But the provincial system is set up the way it is for a reason, he said.
“There’s always a risk that government can fall,” Sturdy said. “And if there is a motion or piece of legislation that is a confidence piece of legislation… if that piece of legislation fails than the confidence in the government is undermined or is determined to not be there then you are into an election. So that is something obviously government is obligated in many [ways] to respect the process and to make sure that doesn’t happen through not adequate management.”
Sturdy denied, however, that MLAs are “whipped,” – that there are severe consequences within the party if an MLA votes outside party lines.
“That certainly hasn’t been my experience,” he said. “The approach is, no surprises – you are free to do whatever you want, but don’t surprise your colleagues. You are on a team.”
MLAs have only to inform each other if they are going to vote against the party, Sturdy said. The app’s data is gleamed from Hansard 2013 – 2016, the Legislative Assembly’s own tracking system.
To learn more about the app go to imagine-x.ca/votes.
