Mixed Member Proportional
On October 10th you are going to be asked whether you think Ontario’s electoral system should be changed from a “first-past-the-post” system to a “mixed member proportional” system.
A mixed member proportional system would expand the legislature from 107 seats to 129 seats. At the polls you would be asked to vote for a candidate to represent you and then vote for the party you support.
Ninety of the seats in the house would got to candidates elected as they are now. The other 39 would be selected from party lists to represent the popular vote.
Proponents of the system, including Wilfrid Laurier University political science professor, Brian Tanguay say the system would bring more fairness to the election process. He says it would more accurately represent Ontarians.
Conservative Leader John Tory went on record in a Toronto Star article saying he does not support the proposed reform.
He told the star, “I am concerned about creating a second class of MPPs who are answerable only to the party establishment and who are, in fact, appointed.”
NDP Leader Howard Hampton, in the same article, is quoted as saying his party would create it’s lists openly, at nomination conventions.
Premier Dalton McGuinty has not said which system he prefers and says that will be the case until after the referendum
The local committee of Fair Vote Canada is holding an information rally in Cambridge this Saturday at Central Park.
Elections Ontario has a website where you can get more information on the referendum. CLICK HERE