Themes from Consultation Meeting in Mississauga

This is a summary of thoughts expressed by members of the public who attended this consultation meeting. If a point was made by more than one participant, it is included only once in the summary. The comments below sometimes contradict one another because they reflect the diversity of the viewpoints of participants.

Number of public participants: 35

Thoughts about Principles (PDF)

Accountability

  • Politicians aren’t accountable.

Effective parties

  • There should be a way to assist new parties to develop.
  • There should not be too many parties; this could be avoided by having a threshold (perhaps 5% of the vote).

Fairness of representation

  • There should be special measures to ensure representation of women and other under-represented groups; for example, require parties to put a certain percentage of women on the list (under a List-PR system), and reserve at least two seats for Aboriginal people.
  • Special privileges should not be given to women.
  • Results should be proportional (seat share should equal vote share).
  • Proportionality is a fad; it dominates all discussions.

Legitimacy

  • Legitimacy is about accurately reflecting the will of the people.
  • Legitimacy is reduced when people vote strategically rather than sincerely.

Simplicity & practicality

  • The electoral system should not be too complicated.

Stable & effective government

  • I don’t understand why we need more parties; when I think of multiple parties, I think of unstable governments.

Stronger voter participation

  • We need to think globally to appeal to young people.
  • Young people don’t vote because they have so many other priorities: studying, paying off debts, friends, family, etc.
  • We need education to increase participation of young people; we should have mandatory civics classes throughout the system.
  • The problem is not that young people aren’t educated; we need reform.
  • Some young people were active but now feel disenfranchised (e.g. politicians crossing the floor makes people cynical).
  • There is also a lack of participation among old people.
  • People don’t vote because they think their votes don’t count.
  • There is no evidence that a new system would increase voter participation.
  • Compulsory voting should be considered.

Voter choice

  • A system should encourage people to vote according to their real preferences.

Thoughts about Ontario’s Current Electoral System

Participants highlighted these advantages of First Past the Post:

  • It’s not broken so don’t fix it.
  • Our system is old and working quite well.
  • Our system offers geographic representation.
  • I know my MPP and I can get help; if he doesn’t help me, I support someone else.
  • It’s the easiest to use.

Participants highlighted these disadvantages of the current system:

  • Majority government with majority support is an exception under our system.
  • It encourages strategic voting.
  • It encourages regional parties like the Bloc Quebecois.
  • The Green party gets votes but doesn’t win seats.

Thoughts about Other Systems

Participants made these comments about other systems:

Alternative Vote (AV) (PDF)

  • AV is being used successfully in Australia.
  • It gives people the opportunity to vote for their preferences; if my first preference doesn’t make it, I’ve still made my other preferences clear.

Condorcet Method

  • It prevents strategic voting.
  • Counting ballots with Condorcet is more difficult than First Past the Post but easier than Alternative Vote.

List-PR (Proportional Representation) (PDF)

  • It provides more voter choice and more parties can win seats.
  • Open lists provide more choice but closed lists are better to improve representation of women.
  • Bigger regions might be unattractive to Ontarians, but boundaries can be drawn to maintain communities of interest.

Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) (PDF)

  • MMP was recommended but no details were given.
  • It may produce less proportional results than List-PR.

Run-off elections (PDF)

  • These may be a good idea.

Single Transferable Vote (STV) (PDF)

  • STV is too complicated.
  • It produces less proportional results than List-PR.

Weighted Vote System

  • It requires few changes from the current system: voters mark one X; winner is determined by a plurality.
  • If results aren’t proportional, parties are given extra voting power (i.e. their members get more than one vote in the legislature).
  • Proportionality is achieved without using multi-member districts, or increasing the size of the legislature.

Other Thoughts

If the Assembly recommends a new system

  • It must be marketable and seen as fair.
  • People must know about the alternative; it needs a lot of promotion.
  • It must be easy to understand.
  • The “60%/60%” threshold for the referendum is too high.
  • A referendum with a low turnout or threshold should not lead to change.

Political parties

  • Parties have too much control over the nomination process.
  • You need too many signatures to register a political party.
  • Parties should not elect their leaders; voters should.
  • Parties should not be able to merge.

Size of the legislature

  • Electoral districts should have 5 to 7 members.
  • The size of the legislature should: stay the same; be increased to 130 members; be increased to 150 members.
  • We should decrease the number of politicians.

Other comments

  • The Citizens’ Assembly should approach the “ethnic” press to promote discussion of the electoral process.
  • The proxy vote should be eliminated.
  • Term limits for politicians are a good idea.
  • Campaign signs should be reduced; they don’t provide any real information and create more waste. 

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