It seems difficult to remain non-partisan in discussions of the coming referendum on Oct. 10 which could alter the way Ontario votes in the future.
Barry Cameron, Perth Wellington’s Referendum Resources Officer for Elections Ontario came to Minto council to explain what the referendum means to local residents. He said Elections Ontario is a nonpartisan agency and his role is to educate the public.
Cameron said there has been only four or five in Ontario’s history – most of which dealt with alcohol and prohibition nearly 90 years ago. He added that the system by which politicians are elected today is unchanged since 1792.
The current system, dubbed First Past the Post, involves one ballot per person, with a single representative elected from each riding. At the end, the party with the most elected candidates is asked to form the government.
It also means that in a province the size of Ontario, it could mean that over a million residents could vote for one particular party and still not get any representation, because none of those candidates won a riding seat.
On election day Oct. 10, voters will receive two ballots.
The first is the ballot to choose a candidate; the other asks if voters want to keep the current electoral system or to change to a Mixed Member Proportional system. The one thing voters will not get, is a choice to take the second ballot home, and have more time to think about it.
Cameron said the Mixed Member Proportional system would have a two-fold effect on residents.
While the number of politicians at Queen’s Park would increase, the number of politicians directly elected would drop. That means even larger ridings for local politicians to represent – by about 20%, he estimated.
The second impact, is that in the Mixed Member Proportional system, political parties that might not normally get any seats in an election would be able to if enough people support their party by voting for it.
Parties would need more than 3% of the vote to qualify to have representatives elected from the party’s list, which would be announced prior to the election.
MPPs chosen from those lists, Cameron said, will not represent a particular area – just the province.
Cameron added even if residents vote for the change, it would not come into effect until the 2011 election.
When asked if a person could run in the election campaign, and still be on a list to be selected after an election, Cameron said, “yes.”
He said said current rules allow candidates running for a particular riding, to qualify to be on a list of selected candidates who could be picked to represent a particular political party after the election.
Mayor David Anderson asked if the alternative electoral system was proposed because the current system is inadequate.
Cameron said the committee that made that recommendation considered other areas of the world such as Italy, Israel, Germany, Holland, Australia, and New Zealand.
A similar system was proposed in British Columbia in 2005, but failed to get the required voter support and was dropped.
When asked if Mixed Member Proportional representation is a good idea, Cameron suggested that for anyone in a party that gets less than 20% of the vote, it is a good idea.
Deputy-Mayor Judy Dirksen questioned the accountability of those simply picked off a party list rather than being directly elected by voters.
Councillor Larry Agla contended most of the countries that use systems similar to what is being proposed often find themselves fractured without any clear majority of opinion.
Cameron said he is aware of what is happening elsewhere – especially where smaller parties must form political coalitions to form a government.
Cameron said anyone looking for more information to review Elections Ontario website www.yourbigdecision.ca.
