Discover

An 'Ontario electoral reform referendum' to be held in '2007' is planned by the Government of Ontario, Canada, which tabled legislation to this effect in early 2005, anticipating the May 2005 British Columbia electoral reform referendum. The referendum would bring about a mixed member proportional representation system in regards to elections to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

Contents

Proposed changes to the electoral system

Referendum question

Elections Ontario education campaign

Reception

Support

Opposition

Other

See also

Notes

External links

Proposed changes to the electoral system

Currently, Ontario elects Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) using the single member plurality, or first past the post, system. In this system, each voter gives one vote to a candidate in an electoral district; the candidate with the most votes wins and is charged with representing all voters in the electoral district. In most cases, the party with the highest number of elected candidates is asked to form a government.
The Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform has proposed a mixed member proportional representation system. In this system, a voter casts two votes - one for a candidate (or 'local member') and one for a political party. The local member is elected in a first-past-the-post style election and represents the electoral district, while the political party vote determines, in conjunction with the number of elected local members belonging to each party, how many list members a party receives. A list member is a candidate on an ordered list that a party issues before the election; if the MMP formula determines that a party can have more seats than it won locally, it receives a "top up" number of list seats. Under this new system, the Legislature would have 129 seats: 90 local members (70% of the Legislature) and 39 list members (30% of the Legislature).
After local and list members are assigned a political party's overall share of seats will roughly equal its share of the party vote, thus the results are proportional. The conventions as to which party is asked to form a government would remain unchanged.
The referendum is to be held concurrently with the 2007 provincial election and, if passed, will be in effect in any subsequent election.

Referendum question

On February 7, 2007 the Ontario Democratic Renewal Secretariat announced that cabinet had decided on the wording of the referendum question, which will be:^[1]

''Which electoral system should Ontario use to elect members to the provincial legislature? / Quel système électoral l’Ontario devrait-il utiliser pour élire les députés provinciaux à l’Assemblée législative?''

★ ''The existing electoral system (First-Past-the-Post) / L’actuel système électoral (système de la majorité relative)''

★ ''The alternative electoral system proposed by the Citizens’ Assembly (Mixed Member Proportional) / L’autre système électoral proposé par l’Assemblée des citoyens (système de représentation proportionnelle mixte)''

The question took many by surprise, including Fair Vote Canada, who was expecting a question requiring a Yes or No answer. The referendum question will appear on a separate referendum ballot given to electors voting in the 2007 Ontario general election.

Elections Ontario education campaign

A recommendation of the Ontario Citizens' Assembly was that Elections Ontario undertake a public education campaign, to ensure that Ontarians are educated about the referendum and could make an informed decision. A June Environics poll, however, showed that 70% of those polled were not familiar with the proposal, including over 50% who knew nothing about the upcoming referendum.^[2]
In July 2007, a projected cost brief for the election gave $6.825 million to be spent on a public referendum education campaign,^[3] an amount that fell short of the minimum $13 million called for by Fair Vote Canada. The assigned money would give one mailout to each Ontario household, a part-time Referendum Resource Officer in each of the province's ridings, a call centre, and a website.

Reception

Support

The New Democratic Party of Ontario is in support of the referendum, however, party leader Howard Hampton has criticized the system for giving Northern Ontario a decreased number of
ridings.^[4]
The Green Party of Ontario, who would have benefited the most from a proportional system in the 2003 election,^[5] have also lent their support.^[6]
Other political parties lending their support to electoral reform include the Family Coalition Party of Ontario,^[7] and the Communist Party of Ontario.^[8]
The proposed system received critical support from Fair Vote Canada, which called for ten specific improvements over the British Columbia model. Prominent suggestions include assembly access to voting system experts with differing opinions, consideration of models with an increase in the number of MPPs, the presentation of two alternatives if the assembly cannot reach a consensus on the single best alternative voting system, and having no 'super-majority' required for adoption of the new voting system.
The women's group Equal Voice were also critically supportive during Select Committee on Electoral Reform hearings, speaking in support of proportional representation but criticizing certian aspects of the proposed system. Group member and former PC finance minister Janet Ecker, for example, argued that a decreased number of local members may mean that rural areas may receive less representation.

Opposition

The Freedom Party of Ontario is currently the only party that officially opposes the proposed system, believing that rule by a majority can be anti-democratic and can be incompatible with the protection of minorities and of individual rights. ^[9]
Organized opposition to the proposal includes the No MMP web site, which supports the FPTP option in the referendum. Canadians United for Representative Democracy has mounted a public relations campaign urging Ontarians to vote against the proposed change.

Other

The Ontario Liberal Party, Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, Ontario Libertarian Party and the Confederation of Regions Party have yet to formally state their party's position on the issue.

See also

★ Fair Vote Canada

★ BC-STV

Notes

1. McGuinty Government Announces Referendum Question
2. Ontario Voters Divided about New Electoral System
3. Projected Costs for the 2007 Provincial General Election and Referendum
4. Proposed new voting system criticized
5. Who Does MMP Benefit?
6. Green leader joins Jolley's bike tour
7. The New System of Election for Ontario
8. On October 10th: Make Your Vote Count!
9. Electoral Reform Report Slammed

External links

★ Your Big Decision, official referendum webpage

★ Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform website

★ TVO's Live Coverage, Videos, Resources and Blogs of the Citizens' Assembly

★ Vote for MMP Campaign

★ No MMP Campaign

★ Canadians United for Representative Democracy's campaign against the proposal

★ Paul McKeever's Testimony to the Select Committee on Electoral Reform: No electoral system is more "democratic" than any other

★ DemocraticSPACE Local/Regional Proposal

★ Fair Vote Ontario's campaign in favour of the proposal