We Get To Vote Twice In the Coming Election

When Ontario goes to the polls this coming October, we will get the chance to vote twice. We will be voting for not only provincial candidates, but also whether or not the current system of electing politicians in Ontario will change.

As suggested by the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, a referendum will be held on a new system of choosing MPPs during the upcoming election.

It is important to distinguish between electoral reform and democratic reform.  For the sake of simplicity, we can use the following two definitions.  Electoral reform deals exclusively with changing the way we select our representatives – this is Dalton McGuinty’s focus.  Democratic reform on the other hand is broader and deals with any improvement to democratic governance.

Public cynicism of governance in Ontario is high, and many would agree that the government we get is not necessarily the government we voted for, nor is the legislature functioning well as a forum for democratic debate. This Ontario Legislature is not necessarily proportionate to society at large – this is true of the gender imbalance, along with other demographics.

And yet we have to ask ourselves, will changing the way we elect MPPs – a new electoral system – repair all of these criticisms?  The answer, is no.  It might suppress a few criticisms, but ultimately, electoral reform won’t achieve the broader goal of democratic reform.

Given the current climate of distrust with this McGuinty government, it is no surprise the Citizens’ Assembly recommended change –that change being a Mixed Member Plurality system, or MMP for short.  Under MMP, the province would still have electoral districts, although there would be fewer of them, and they would cover a larger population.  Some of the elected representatives would represent ridings, and some would be appointed based on lists provided by party bosses.

At present, we use the single-member plurality system – also known as first-past-the-post – to elect our MPPs.  This means that each electoral district has a single representative who wins by receiving the largest vote total.  It’s an easy system to understand – the candidate with the most votes becomes the MPP.  People know who their MPP is.  If they are dissatisfied with the performance of their MPP, they are free to choose another in the next election.  And perhaps most important, this system ensures the Legislative Assembly has representation from across the province.

This coming October, Ontarians will be asked whether they wish to adopt a new process of electing representatives.  That’s fine, but what if we move forward with a new system, only to discover that the previous system actually worked better?  Some have suggested we should have a trial period, just in case the new system doesn’t meet expectations.
  
What would happen if instead of changing the electoral system, we pursued some other, more basic reforms – such as keeping campaign promises, respecting the role of individual MPPs, fixing the lack of productivity in the legislature, improving decorum in the House, and improving the flow of information to the public, the media, and the Opposition. 

Electoral reform is a sub-set of democratic reform.  In fact, electoral reform is just one of many possible tools we could employ to improve democratic governance in Ontario.  We need to get to the heart of the problem rather than just attacking the symptoms.