For immediate release:
September 01, 2007

We can disagree without being disagreeable

In the coming month, Ontarians will be debating possible changes to the Ontario Legislature.

Eleven years ago, I voted to reduce the number of politicians in the province of Ontario.  Locally, residents told me that having fewer politicians was ‘a good start.’

At present, there are a number of ideas floating around to the democratic process in Ontario.  We should start by improving the way politicians act once they are elected.

Voters are fed up with the juvenile and unproductive behaviour they see from their representatives.

In our area, you could never get away with the behaviour we see at Queen’s Park.  The yelling, insults, and broken promises would be unacceptable in our living rooms – why do we allow it at the Ontario Legislature?

We should start by improving the decorum of political debate.  People can disagree with each other without being disagreeable.  This principle should extend into politics.  Yelling, screaming, and tossing around insults does nothing to improve the lives of citizens.

In addition to adding civility to the Legislature, we need to focus on keeping election promises.  If a politician promises not to raise taxes during an election campaign, they should not be jacked-up less than a year later.  Similarly, if farmers are promised a new generation of safety nets, that promise should be kept. 

And we need to increase accountability.  When people hear about a cricket club getting a million dollars of taxpayer money – despite asking for only $150 thousand – they rightly believe that we need democratic reform.  It’s time for government to start focusing on results and cost effectiveness, rather than pointing to ballooning budgets as evidence of progress.

On October 10th we will be asked for input on further potential democratic change through a referendum on our electoral system.  We will be asked to choose between the existing system of electing MPPs, and an alternative electoral system proposed by a Citizens’ Assembly.

If the proposed electoral system is supported by a majority of Ontario’s ridings, in addition to receiving 60 per cent support of all votes, the Ontario Government has promised to introduce legislation to adopt the new model.