Stated by: Andrew Wilkinson, BC Liberal Leader. The Province, June 3, 2018.
This claim is 100% false.
Proportional representation is used by over 90 countries, including most of the countries in the Organization for Economic and Cooperative Development (OECD). Governments in countries with proportional representation change based on how people vote at election times, with parties on the left, centre and right all having turns in government.
Although the NDP and Greens combined had the support of 57% of BC voters in 2017, for decades parties on the right of the spectrum were supported by a genuine majority of BC voters. There’s no evidence that voter preferences for one particular government will be fixed in place “indefinitely” with proportional representation.
Governments change with Proportional Representation
a
Just like in countries with first-past-the-post, governments change in countries with proportional representation. Proportional representation just means the seats in the legislature will much more closely reflect the popular vote. The picture on the right is an example of how governments have changed in the past 20 years in two countries that use Mixed Member Proportional Representation (note: New Zealand has elections every 3 years).
Governments vary with Proportional Representation
a
As the image on the right shows (2016), a variety of governments are in power in Europe, most of which uses proportional representation.
Photo credit:
https://www.indy100.com/article/the-map-of-europe-by-how-right-or-left-wing-the-government-is-7332691
BC’s History of Voter Preferences
a
As this record of BC elections since 1903 shows, in almost every election from 1952 to 2005, voters on the right were a genuine majority. There’s no evidence to suggest that the current preferences of BC voters are now fixed “indefinitely”.