Ontario Electoral Reform

Tendronai · 04-16-2007, 07:11 PM

The official website.

So, the Citizen's Assembly, after months of debate, has chosen to put forward that the First Past the Post system for one of mixed member proportional.

This is actually really important, since it benefits every voting citizen of Ontario. First Past the Post is an antiquated system, which is only still used in three countries - The US, Canada, and the UK. The problem with it is as follows :

Candidate's A, B, and C are running for a seat. Candidate A gets 12 votes, B gets 10, and C gets 3. First of all, A wins outright. Never mind the fact that the other two outweigh him, A had the most of anyone, so A gets the seat. Next, all A really needed was that 11th vote. The twelfth voter for A, as well as all the voters for B and C, were unneeded, so there becomes a problem of wasted votes. B and C go completely unrepresented in this riding, and get no real say in what goes on - this is largely due to the degree of party dominance over its members, though. The party gets the seat, so the party elected gets to make the decisions, and the candidate is more of an honourary placeholder.

With Mixed Member Proportionality, though, there becomes a new list of seats, which are awarded based on how well a party did across the province. As such, in the above example, A would get 48% of the seats, B would get 40%, and C would get 12%. This is in addition to the original number of ridings, so no areas are overlooked (like, say, Northern Ontario being forced into doing whatever the Greater Toronto Area wants.

This is an important step, since it could allow for further electoral reform across the country. As most political scientists will tell you, First Past the Post is a terrible system. If Ontario passes the change, then other provinces could follow suit, and alleviate the lowering voter turnout problems.

I think that this is a great idea and a good step forward, personally. The only real arguments that I've been able to find for keeping First Past the Post come from the Liberal and Conservative Parties (and of course the Bloc Quebecois) who wish to keep it in place so that they do not have to appeal to differing regions, but rather keep their influence on separate provinces. The Bloc, for example, got the same amount of votes as the Green Party (roughly) nationwide, but because the Bloc is so focused in Quebec they were able to get 40-50 seats whereas the Green Party still has none.

Even though the current provincial government has been terrible at keeping its promised tuition freeze, I still respect the fact that they went forward with a process that could reduce the likelihood of reelection solely for the purpose of making the system more democratic. I know that while I may not vote for the Liberals, I will be voting for this.

So anyway... anyone else? Thoughts? Opinions?

04-16-2007, 07:11 PM	#1
Tendronai I will crush your economy. Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Magical mystical land of Canada. Posts: 1,364	Ontario Electoral Reform The official website. So, the Citizen's Assembly, after months of debate, has chosen to put forward that the First Past the Post system for one of mixed member proportional. This is actually really important, since it benefits every voting citizen of Ontario. First Past the Post is an antiquated system, which is only still used in three countries - The US, Canada, and the UK. The problem with it is as follows : Candidate's A, B, and C are running for a seat. Candidate A gets 12 votes, B gets 10, and C gets 3. First of all, A wins outright. Never mind the fact that the other two outweigh him, A had the most of anyone, so A gets the seat. Next, all A really needed was that 11th vote. The twelfth voter for A, as well as all the voters for B and C, were unneeded, so there becomes a problem of wasted votes. B and C go completely unrepresented in this riding, and get no real say in what goes on - this is largely due to the degree of party dominance over its members, though. The party gets the seat, so the party elected gets to make the decisions, and the candidate is more of an honourary placeholder. With Mixed Member Proportionality, though, there becomes a new list of seats, which are awarded based on how well a party did across the province. As such, in the above example, A would get 48% of the seats, B would get 40%, and C would get 12%. This is in addition to the original number of ridings, so no areas are overlooked (like, say, Northern Ontario being forced into doing whatever the Greater Toronto Area wants. This is an important step, since it could allow for further electoral reform across the country. As most political scientists will tell you, First Past the Post is a terrible system. If Ontario passes the change, then other provinces could follow suit, and alleviate the lowering voter turnout problems. I think that this is a great idea and a good step forward, personally. The only real arguments that I've been able to find for keeping First Past the Post come from the Liberal and Conservative Parties (and of course the Bloc Quebecois) who wish to keep it in place so that they do not have to appeal to differing regions, but rather keep their influence on separate provinces. The Bloc, for example, got the same amount of votes as the Green Party (roughly) nationwide, but because the Bloc is so focused in Quebec they were able to get 40-50 seats whereas the Green Party still has none. Even though the current provincial government has been terrible at keeping its promised tuition freeze, I still respect the fact that they went forward with a process that could reduce the likelihood of reelection solely for the purpose of making the system more democratic. I know that while I may not vote for the Liberals, I will be voting for this. So anyway... anyone else? Thoughts? Opinions? __________________ Give me your wallet before I destroy you, mortal.