Ontario Proportional Representation
The Ontario Citizen's Assembly On Electoral Reform has voted to endorse MMP over the our current first-past-the-post system. Thanks to democraticSPACE for bringing this to light.
If you want to learn about the details of what this would mean for you at election time, go to this page. There is a link on the page to download the Citizen's Assembly report as a PDF file. You'll see from this that the ballot would be divided into 2 parts - you vote for one local representative, and you vote for one regional representative - and you get to pick the regional person, not just the party. It looks like they have come up with a very simple and feasible solution.
The next step towards PR now lies with the Liberals and Conservatives. The current system of FPTP (first past the post) helps them get majority governments when their party is in power. PR would only give a majority government if the party actually gets a majority of the votes (50%+).
IF they support this, then the step after that is the referendum vote next election time. And they have set the bar at 60% of the vote or more. This means that the general public must be fully educated on the issue. A daunting task. Will the MSM (mainstream media) be up to the task? Hopefully, the contents of the PDF report (above) will be fully distributed and explained throughout the coming months.
UPDATES
• Toronto Star, April 15, 2007
If you want to learn about the details of what this would mean for you at election time, go to this page. There is a link on the page to download the Citizen's Assembly report as a PDF file. You'll see from this that the ballot would be divided into 2 parts - you vote for one local representative, and you vote for one regional representative - and you get to pick the regional person, not just the party. It looks like they have come up with a very simple and feasible solution.
The next step towards PR now lies with the Liberals and Conservatives. The current system of FPTP (first past the post) helps them get majority governments when their party is in power. PR would only give a majority government if the party actually gets a majority of the votes (50%+).
IF they support this, then the step after that is the referendum vote next election time. And they have set the bar at 60% of the vote or more. This means that the general public must be fully educated on the issue. A daunting task. Will the MSM (mainstream media) be up to the task? Hopefully, the contents of the PDF report (above) will be fully distributed and explained throughout the coming months.
UPDATES
• Toronto Star, April 15, 2007
2 comments:
Note the CA endorsed a different type of MMP than what I proposed. To understand what the CA is recommending, see What Does Ontario’s MMP System Look Like and What Does it Mean?"
Excellent. Thank you. And for all those who've written in comments on your post regarding open or closed lists: you must admit that the Citizen's Assembly's recommendation is a great improvement over the current FPTP system. Also, once we have a PR system in place, people will be able to see how it works and be in a better position to decide on how and if to improve the form of PR. I think the proposed PR system is simple enough that the people of Ontario can see how it will be much better than FPTP.
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