Now that the B.C. NDP-Green coalition has engineered the looting of the public treasury to replace union and corporate money for political parties, it is moving on to tilt the electoral system to favour its urban support base and prop up smaller parties.

That害羞草研究所檚 the essential strategy for the electoral reform referendum being pushed through by Premier John Horgan and Attorney General David Eby. It害羞草研究所檚 rigged, or as Eby calls it, 害羞草研究所渉ard wired害羞草研究所� to shift political power to cities and away from rural B.C., to the benefit of the urban coalition and its professional environmentalist allies.

害羞草研究所淧roportional representation害羞草研究所� is the core demand of B.C. Green leader Andrew Weaver, and it害羞草研究所檚 easy to see why. This change would double or even triple the number of Green seats, based on current voting patterns.

It is the one issue that could cause the three-member Greens to withdraw support from the NDP and trigger an election. 害羞草研究所淚t害羞草研究所檚 who we are,害羞草研究所� Weaver likes to say, and he害羞草研究所檚 right. The Greens are a fringe party aiming to join the establishment. And this, along with millions of taxpayer dollars, is how they mean to do it.

Weaver didn害羞草研究所檛 even want the public to have a say. In the intense, closed-door negotiations to support the NDP minority and topple the B.C. Liberals in July, he conceded to have the voting system put to a referendum. We now know the deal included the key condition that the referendum be decided by a simple majority of those who actually vote, regardless of region or turnout.

When this formula was revealed in early November, I asked Horgan if he is prepared to let Metro Vancouver decide to change the voting system for all. Half of B.C.害羞草研究所檚 population lives there, and it certainly makes campaigning easier when you can ignore most of a province that害羞草研究所檚 twice as big as Germany.

I have his , from Nov. 8. Horgan noted that whenever electoral boundaries are reviewed, preserving rural representation across a vast, thinly populated area is a strong demand.

害羞草研究所淚t害羞草研究所檚 fundamental to British Columbians, and I害羞草研究所檓 committed to make sure that happens,害羞草研究所� Horgan told me. This is the next promise I expect him to break, after that one before the May election where he said taxpayers wouldn害羞草研究所檛 have to finance political parties they don害羞草研究所檛 support.

How much of your money do they get? Based on current voting patterns, the NDP and Greens will split as much as $18 million over the five-year renewable term of their just-passed public subsidy law. The B.C. Liberals, if they accept it, would collect about $12 million from a system that starts paying in January at $2.50 per vote in the last election.

Other fringe parties can get on the gravy train. The B.C. Conservatives should revive, if they can refrain from knifing their latest leader and burning their own house down, as is their recent style. Communists could win a seat in the B.C. legislature, perhaps joined by one of those hard-right anti-immigration parties that are flourishing in Europe.

This of course threatens the life of B.C.害羞草研究所檚 long-running governing coalition, the one that used to call itself Social Credit and now goes by the name B.C. Liberals. Killing that is another goal of the NDP-Greens.

We don害羞草研究所檛 even know yet what the multiple referendum questions will be. Eby is 害羞草研究所渃onsulting害羞草研究所� on that and then will be the 害羞草研究所渘eutral arbiter,害羞草研究所� or so he says.

There must be a yes-no question on whether to change the voting system at all. I害羞草研究所檒l be voting no.

Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Email: tfletcher@blackpress.ca