What if you spent a lot of money on a party and only a few people showed up?

That鈥檚 what happened to Elections B.C. back on Valentine鈥檚 Day when it held the 91大黄鸭 West byelection.

According to the newly released official report on the byelection by Elections B.C, taxpayers spent more than half a million dollars鈥�$565,538 to be precise鈥攖o hold the vote and less than a third of eligible voters鈥�14,972鈥攕howed up to cast ballots.

Former Liberal MLA Ben Stewart won in a landslide, taking more than 56 per cent of the vote.

But it cost him a pretty penny. Elections B.C. says he spent $87,790 to win back the job he gave up in 2013 to let his then boss, former premier Christy Clark, seek the riding after she lost her Vancouver seat in the provincial election that year. His closest spending rival in the race, B.C. Green Robert Shupka shelled out just under $55,000 but finished a distant third. NDP candidate Shelley Cook finished second and spent just over $49,000.

The report is timely given the current debate over how the province should elect its MLAs in the future.

Stewart won back his old seat under what鈥檚 known as the 鈥渇irst-past-the-post鈥� system. Under that system, each riding holds an individual election during a larger provincial general election and the candidate with the most votes in that riding wins the seat. The party with most seats gets to form the government鈥攐r in the case of a minority government, can do a deal with another party to win its support to keep it in power.

Fall鈥檚 referendum on proportional representation in B.C., if successful, would change that. MLAs would be 鈥減roportioned鈥濃�攊n some cases appointed鈥攂ased on the total number of votes the party he or she represents gains across B.C. provincial vote. Such a move could directly affect political representation in individual ridings.

A proportional representation system could give smaller parties the potential of having more influence given coalition or minority governments are almost guaranteed. Depending on who you talk to, that would be a good or bad thing. Supporters say it would provide more diverse views. Opponents fear it could give extremist more power.

The 91大黄鸭 West byelection report simply counted the cost of Clark鈥檚 decision to bolt rather than lead a Liberal Opposition after her government was ousted by the NDP and B.C. Green Party in a vote of non-confidence in the legislature shortly after May鈥檚 provincial vote.

After publicly stating she would stay on and represent the constituents of 91大黄鸭 West who re-elected her in the May vote, she abruptly quit, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill to elect her replacement.

Meanwhile, the cost of Clark鈥檚 parting gift to B.C. taxpayers may become ammunition in the battle over how we elect MLAs in future. Under an alternative system, an MLA could still quit, but if there was more than one MLA representing a riding, it would not leave the constituents without political representation in Victoria for the nearly six months it took to replace Clark.

The formal campaigns leading to the PR referendum are expected to start in the next few weeks.

Alistair Waters is the assistant editor of the Capital News.

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