STV Referendum – who gets the money?
Posted January 12, 2009 by Sacha Peter - Link
Category: Referendum
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Bill Tieleman’s group, KnowSTV, recently announced that they are the official “no” proponent to the STV referendum. They will receive up to $500,000 in provincial funding. To achieve this aim, they have legally formed a society called the “NO BC-STV Campaign Society”.
Tieleman is very well known to political followers in British Columbia, mainly being the driving force behind the Basi-Virk legislature raid issue, and also being a thorn to the BC Liberal government.
Very politically cunning, Tieleman will give the “yes” proponents a good run for their money.
The proponent side will likely be the BC arm of Fair Vote Canada, running stv.ca. I have not heard any announcements from them whether they have been selected yet.
The “no” side has likely won simply due to the question on the ballot being significantly different than the 2005 question. I will still following the referendum just as closely as the general election, as the referendum will be a general proxy on how alienated the public feels from the electoral system – my theory would be that the more alienation that exists, the more willing the public will choose STV.