'PR is bed' gold 'at dog's breakfast': Feisty debate on electoral reform offers no clear winner

In the past, the election of the British Columbia Premier and the Liberal Leader, Andrew Wilkinson, has been held in the first phase of the election.

The two leaders were facing off on the province's referendum on electoral reform, which could be seen from the current first-past-the-post voting system to a system of proportional representation.

LISTEN: Horgan vs. Wilkinson: Electoral reform debate and badysis

There was no shortage of heat on the two leaders sparred, with both men talking about each other.

READ MORE:
Proportional Representation for Dummies: Electoral Reform Referendum Cheat Sheet

The crosstalk got so intense at one point that

"I think this point in the evening, if I'm just going to listen to one guy, I'm going to watch Wheel of Fortune," he said.

No leader scored a clear knockout blow, and by the end of the combative debate.

Want context on the PR debate? Watch Global BC's electoral reform post-special

Unanswered questions

Andrew Wilkinson was unheard of on the attack, directing the bulk of his firepower to the multitude of unanswered questions that still surrounds a switch to PR.

Wilkinson argued that there are at least 23 features of a system that will not be decided before people vote, likening the process to handing a blank check to a used car salesman.

"Wilkinson asked Horgan repeatedly in a particularly combative segment, accusing Horgan of evading the issue. "How many MLAs will they have in their riding?"

It was a question Horgan did not answer directly – baduring listeners that voters would still vote in their regular polling place for a real human, but deferring the technical details of a PR system to an as-yet-convened electoral boundaries commission.

LISTEN: Both Premier John Horgan and Liberal BC leader Andrew Wilkinson held media scrums after their heated debate. We get some reaction from Global BC 's Richard Zussman to last night' s debate on electoral reform.

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"I do not know the answer," he said.

"There are redistributions, maps are redrawn all the time."

That was a reply Wilkinson pounced on later in the debate.

"He's in charge of the results after you vote," Wilkinson said. "He gets to fill in all the blanks, and he puzzles me why he's not filling in the blanks tonight."

Throughout the debate, Wilkinson returned again and again to argue that the systems were being confused, arguing that the NDP had been decided upon by the United States. get proportional results.

Wilkinson also pounded on the referendum process, calling the ballot a confusing "dog's breakfast," and pointing to the two balls that have been returned so far as a consequence.

A question of fairness

Horgan's key point in the debate: The role of the audience in organizing elections.

The first arguably in the history of the United States, and the point of view of Canada.

In Quebec, 37 percent of the vote gives 100 percent of the power. In Ontario, 40 per cent of the vote gives 100 per cent of the power, "Horgan argued.

"And in New Brunswick, explain this to people, the party got 38 percent of the vote, which was 32 percent of the vote. That's first-past-the-post. "

How would it help to increase participation and vote turnout, and it would be more likely to be a co-operative – pointing to Germany as an example of a country that was governed by a "grand coalition" of parties on the left and right.

WATCH: Proportional Representation for Dummies

Wilkinson argued that none of what is important is that it should be guaranteed, and that it should be cheaper and simpler.

"It's important that you get your MLA and you get your MLA," he argued at one point.

"Everybody understands the system we have right now, because it is familiar with all of us," he argued at another.

"Whoever gets the most votes wins. The names are on the ballots. The people in the community know it's their community that's voting for a particular individual. "

Another citizens' badembly?

While Wilkinson did not accept the current first-past-the-post system as simple and easy to use, it is not necessarily a bad thing.

In fact, Wilkinson floated the idea of ​​another Citizens' Assembly, like the one that crafted B.C.'s 2005 and 2009 referendums on the Single Transferable Vote (STV).

READ MORE: Just 1 per cent of ballots have been returned to the B.C. electoral reform referendum

"It's been 14 years since the last one. They would come out with a straightforward yes / no question for people to vote on, "Wilkinson argued.

It should also be possible to ensure maximum turnout.

WATCH: British Columbians slow to respond to electoral reform referendum

'Pro Rep is bed'

There was no question that at least one of the leaders had the youth vote on the mind, throwing out terms like "hip" repeatedly throughout the debate.

"Young people like the idea of ​​coming together," said Horgan, in response to a question about young people's disconnection with the political process.

"If you were woke, you would know that pro rep is bed."

They are so very much in the know that they are not counted, particularly if they are in a so-called "safe" riding that reliably goes to one party or another.

READ MORE: 'I'm not an expert' says B.C. minister quizzed on proportional representation

"If you live in a heavily-dominated Liberal area, or a heavily-dominated NDP area, they do not show up because they know what the outcome is," he said.

"With proportional representation, people will engage with the system because they do not know what the outcome is."

Voters have gone to the end of the month to make up their minds with the ballots to back to Elections BC by Nov. 30.

Who do you think won Thursday? S debate on proportional representation?