Ontario electoral reform referendum, 2007

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An Ontario electoral reform referendum to be held in 2007 is planned by the Government of Ontario, which tabled legislation to this effect in early 2005, anticipating the May 2005 British Columbia electoral reform referendum.

1 Citizens' Assembly
2 Opposition and support
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Citizens' Assembly

If the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform recommends a change, the referendum will be held concurrently with the 2007 provincial election in October of that year. The new system, if approved, would be in effect in any subsequent election.

The legislation has initiated a citizens' assembly process similar to BC.

[edit] Opposition and support

The BC model received critical support by a number of groups including Fair Vote Canada which called for ten specific improvements including most prominently:

"Access to a variety of experts: The assembly should have presentations from and ongoing access to a variety of voting system experts, including those with differing opinions. The assembly must be protected from being deliberately or inadvertently steered by staff experts."
"Flexibility on recommendations: Given the recent reduction of seats in the Ontario legislature, the assembly should be allowed to consider models that involve an increase in the number of MPPs. In addition, if the assembly cannot reach a general consensus on the single best alternative voting system, they should be allowed to present two alternatives, with voters using a preference ballot in the referendum to choose among the alternatives and the status quo."
"No super-majority required for adoption: Unlike the BC government, the Ontario government and political parties should not impose a super-majority referendum result for adoption of a new voting system. If the Government claims the right to make binding and far-reaching policy decisions based on simple majority rule, the same standard should apply to citizens."

During hearings[1] of the Select Committee on Electoral Reform, the presentation of the women's group Equal Voice featured prominent women in the three main parties advocating reform of the voting system to introduce an element of proportional representation, as recommended by the Law Commission of Canada. Former PC finance minister Janet Ecker said any political party, indeed a government, may find itself with a lack of representation in some area, whether it's geographic, whether it's gender, whether it's urban, rural, you name it, and for caucus, cabinet and party discussions to adequately assess an issue, you need as much diversity in that room as you can get. Kim Donaldson, former executive vice-president of the Ontario Liberal Party, said despite good intentions women are still languishing at 21% of the legislature, so it's time to put a little muscle into what we all agree ought to be done.

At the same hearings the Freedom Party of Ontario said "In a true system of majority rule, there could be no right that would protect the individual from the whims of the majority." It suggested that the most powerful effect that any electoral reform will have is the implications of majority versus minority government. Freedom Party suggested that "it would be utterly false to suggest that one electoral system is itself more or less democratic than any other electoral system." Freedom Party suggested that "majority rule can be very anti-democratic" and ethical limits should be placed on government authority; those limits are facilitated only by an electoral system that makes majority governments the rule rather than the exception.

The Green Party of Ontario strongly supported the move to electoral reform. The New Democratic Party of Ontario also supports it.

The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario is the party that would have gained most from a proportional representation system in the 2003 election. However, this party could have difficulty winning a majority government (which requires more than 50% of the vote, something which the Tories and Liberals have only received very rarely), and could have trouble under the current circumstances in leading either a minority government or coalition government, as it has no obvious partner among the other two major parties(the Ontario Liberal Party and Ontario NDP). Still, in 1985 when the NDP held the balance of power, both other parties attempted to reach an accord with the NDP (the Liberals succeeded). Also the Tories cooperated very successfully in two unofficial coalitions with the NDP from 1977-1979 and 1979-1981 during the government of Bill Davis. PC Leader John Tory had yet to make a statement about the reform or his party's view of it. However, it is important to point out that in New Zealand, more political parties have elected MPs since the adoption of a Mixed Member Proportional electoral system–parties on all ends of the political spectrum. It could also be pointed out that the Ontario Tories could hypothetically form a coalition or at least an alliance with the Ontario Green Party since their economic agenda is fairly centre-right and is considered to be Blue Green by most observers.