Ontario Citizens Assembly- Referendum

Ian Urquhart is cautiously predicting a victory for MMP in the upcoming October referendum.

If the political scientists are right, this suggests Ontario is on the cusp of a sweeping change in the way we select our legislators.

While it isn't the strongest endorsement, it does reflect the challenges that MMP supporters will face in the quest to bring fairness to Ontario's electoral system.

At this point, the real problem is that few know what MMP is, and what its pros (and cons) are.

Given the widespread public ignorance of the electoral reform issue – a recent Environics poll showed 70 per cent of Ontarians are not familiar with it – how, then, will voters learn about the pros and cons of MMP?

The Ontario government- which is remaining officially neutral in the referendum- will be using Election Ontario to educate citizens on the mechanics of the two systems, not on their pros and cons. Of course, the benefit of MMP is not simply the mechanics. The real benefit lays in the fact that it doesn't have the undemocratic consequences of the FPTP system. This is the real selling point, but the one that can't be used by Elections Ontario. Furthermore, the regulations "could be interpreted as meaning the parties must stay out of the electoral reform campaign." That would be disasterous for the NDP, who planned on making MMP a cornerstone of their platform.

Officially, the referendum will question will read:

"Which electoral system should Ontario use to elect members to the provincial legislature? The existing electoral system (first-past-the-post)" or "the alternative electoral system proposed by the citizens' assembly (mixed member proportional)."

This even takes the steam out of a 'Vote YES' campaign. I guess we'll have to go with 'VOTE MMP' instead.