Citizens Assembly News Digest
October 19, 2007
Written by J.H. Snider
Ontario Citizens Assembly Referendum Defeated
This issue of the Citizens Assembly News Digest is divided into seven sections:
1) Ontario Referendum Results and Analysis
2) Other Citizens Assembly News
3) Research
4) iSolon.org Update
5) Next Citizens Assembly News Digest
6) Newspaper Articles
7) Blog Entries
1) Ontario Referendum Results and Analysis
On October 10, 2007 Ontario held a referendum on the recommendations of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform. The referendum gave the electorate two options: vote for the status quo electoral system based on First-Past-the-Post voting rules (FPTP), or support the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly to change to a system known as Mixed Member Proportional (MMP).
As the following table from Elections Ontario shows, the referendum to change the electoral system went down to defeat 63.1% to 36.9%, with less than 5% of the political districts providing majority support for MMP.
Question :
Which electoral system should Ontario use to elect members to the
provincial legislature?
Provincial Results |
||||
Choice |
Total Valid Votes |
Percentage of Valid Votes |
Districts with 50% + 1 |
|
The existing electoral system |
2,704,652 |
63.1% |
102 |
|
The alternative electoral system proposed by the Citizens’
Assembly |
1,579,684 |
36.9% |
5 |
|
In addition to voting on the referendum, voters were asked to vote for representatives to Ontario’s legislature. In the legislative election, the Liberal Party won 71 seats (with 42% of the vote), the Progressive Conservative Party won 26 seats (with 32% of the vote), and the New Democratic Party won 10 seats (with 17% of the vote). Other parties received 9% of the vote but no seats.
The election was noteworthy in having not only Ontario’s first referendum since 1924 (virtually no one living in Ontario had ever before voted on a provincial referendum) but also the lowest voter turnout (52.8% of the vote) in provincial history. Clearly, whatever the historical novelty of the referendum, the referendum’s existence was not a major draw in getting citizens to the polls.
The motivation to create the citizens assembly may be traced back to 1995 when the Liberal Party was a close second in votes but only won 30 seats (23% of total seats) compared to the 82 seats (63% of total seats) won by the Progressive Conservative Party. Under a system of rigorous proportional representation, the Progressive Conservatives would not have received a majority of seats (it only had 44.8% of the vote). The result in the 1999 election was similar.
Dalton McGuinty has led the Liberal Party since 1996. In the 2003 election, he included electoral reform as part of the Liberal Party platform. The Liberal Party won the election, and McGuinty followed through on his electoral promise in 2006 by creating the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.
After the 2007 election results, the Liberal Party said it would not back another citizens assembly on electoral reform. In McGuinty’s words: “We’ve had that debate; I have an abiding confidence in the collective wisdom of the people of Ontario.”
What explains the dramatic failure of the Ontario Citzens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform’s recommendations to win voter support? The discrepancy between the Citizens’ Assembly members’ support for MMP over the status quo (84% to 16%) and the general public’s (37% to 63%) cries out for explanation.
A huge amount has already been written trying to answer this question (for many weeks insiders have known that the referendum was very likely to go down to defeat, so the explanations began early). But we’re still far from having anything close to a definitive answer.
In attempting to answer this question, I looked at the more than 500 articles that showed up in a Nexis search on the referendum from September 14 (the date of my last Citizens Assembly News Digest) through October 18. I also checked a variety of blog entries and web sites focused on the referendum. The subset of newspaper articles available online are included below as are the blog entries.
The hypotheses explaining the defeat are remarkably diverse. But the most widely reported explanations can be placed in two simple categories, depending on whether the author was an MMP supporter or opponent. Those who supported the referendum tended to blame the information campaign (or the absence of such a campaign) waged by political elites including party leaders, the press, and the government office (Elections Ontario) responsible for educating the public about the referendum. I’ll call this the “Referendum Campaign Hypothesis.”
Those who opposed the referendum tended to argue that the referendum failed on its merits; that is, once the public came to understand the nature of MMP, they decided they didn’t like it. I’ll call this the “MMP Merit Hypothesis.”
Those who opposed the referendum also tended to disparage the citizens assembly process. But the procedural attack was relatively rare and even when joined to the merit attack usually allocated far fewer words and correspondingly less emphasis. Nevertheless, the procedural attack is potentially very imporant. I’ll call it the “Citizens Assembly Process Hypothesis.”
All three hypotheses appear to have significant support, so the difficulty lies in how much weight to ascribe to each factor. It’s also interesting to note that a large number of local Ontario political scientists weighed in on the referendum debate, often strongly disagreeing with each other. I didn’t collect the names of all the political scientists, but the list below captures the majority of those who were part of the public debate in the press. About half also wrote op-eds.
- Mark Yaniszewski, University of Waterloo
- Dennis Pilon, University of Victoria
- Jim Laxer, York University
- Peter MacLeod, Queen’s University
- Paul Nesbitt-Larking, Huron University College
- William Christian, University of Guelph
- Jonathan Rose, Queen’s University
- Jonathan Malloy, Carleton University
- Geoffrey Stevens, Wilfrid Laurier University
- Daniel Rubenson, Ryerson University
Overall, I would not say that, in the public eye, this was the finest moment for the field of political science. A respected scientific field has professional consensus. Except for a few relatively minor points—such as that voters who don’t understand a referendum item are likely to vote for the status quo—there was no consensus.
My focus here will be on providing a flavor of the different arguments. My hope is that the burgeoning group of citizens assembly scholars will attempt a more authoritative explanation of the referendum’s failure.
Referendum Campaign Hypothesis
The Referendum Campaign Hypothesis can be divided into two sub-arguments: 1) arguments that the opponents of the referendum provided misleading information (the “Framing Hypothesis”) and 2) arguments that the absense of elite discussion of the issue doomed the referendum to failure (the “Voter Risk Aversion Hypothesis”). The mechanism in the Voter Risk Aversion Hypothesis is that voters ignorant of or confused by a proposed change in a referendum have a strong propensity to vote for the less risky status quo. In the days immediately preceding and following the referendum, media accounts were dominated by this type of Referendum Campaign Hypothesis.
The flavor of this argument can be captured by various headlines such as “Referendum Debate Absent“ (Oct 10), “Public is in the Dark” (Oct 9), “Nearly three million Ontarians still don’t know about referendum (Oct 9),” “Referendum? What referendum?” (Oct 9), “Apathy Won’t Help Referendum” (Oct 6), and “Referendum Confusion” (Oct 6), “Referendum Campaign Poorly Done” (Oct 5), “Critics Assail Referendum Awareness” (Oct 4), “Referendum lost in campaign chaos, say reform advocates” (Oct 4), and “Keep system we know, readers urge” (Oct 1).
The argument was also elaborated upon in many of the articles (readers satisfied with a few examples may want to skip ahead to the next section, “The Referendum Merit Hypothesis”).
"Unfortunately, Ontario's historic referendum opportunity was marred by a pathetically inadequate public information campaign by the legislature and Elections Ontario," said Rick Anderson, a proponent of electoral change.” (news, Ottawa Citizen, Oct 12)
That MMP fared so poorly, capturing only 36.8 per cent of the vote, is something of a surprise. But any change in long-established institutions is always resisted, and especially when it is not familiar to the voters and is quite complicated. (op-ed, Ottawa Citizen, Oct 12)
"I really believe if people were totally aware of what
MMP was, it would have been different. What I feared, I'm sure happened.
People came in (to the polling station) and said 'What is this? I don't
understand it.' And, of course, no one there could explain it to them.
That's not allowed." (news,
The Record, Oct 12)
"I personally felt that Elections Ontario could have
done a better job," said Woodstock's Margaret Messenger, who was
selected to be Oxford's member of the
citizen's assembly. "We
did get a lot of education on different systems, but the public didn't
get as much.
"If our recommendation had come out a year ago and
people had been given the time to educate themselves, it would have done
better."
Jim Laxer, a professor of political science at York University, attributed the resounding defeat of the proposal to a lack of understanding by voters. (news, Woodstock-Sentinel-Review, Oct 12)
Paul Nesbitt-Larking, chair of political science at
Huron University College and a proponent of MMP, said he was "very
disappointed" by the media's failure to hold the type of public
conversation required on the issue.
But Peter MacLeod, research director at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queen's University, said proponents should take solace in the fact that so many Ontarians voted for MMP despite the limited education campaign. (news, Globe and Mail, Oct 11)
"I don't know what the referendum is about," Luigi
Maulucci, a barber in east-end Toronto for 41 years, lamented just
before he voted.
"I've been listening to the news and reading the
newspapers and I still can't make it out."
By all accounts, Maulucci was not alone.
One scrutineer said people arriving at her
Toronto-area polling station to cast ballots for both a new provincial
government and the referendum were clearly confused.
"They walk in and say, `What do I do with this
thing?"' said Judy Wilkings shortly before the polls closed.
"People don't get it. They want to get it. But they
just don't get it."
Scrutineers, however, were forbidden to provide any
guidance. (news, Brantford
Expositer, Oct 11)
Elections Ontario defended itself against charges it did too little to inform the public, saying it blanketed the province with impartial leaflets and advertising. But even Jonathan Rose, the Queen's University political scientist who served as academic director for the citizens' assembly that chose MMP, acknowledged the election agency could have had a "much more vigorous" public education campaign. (news, Daily Herald-Tribune, Oct 11)
James Morris, voting at Alexander Muir Public School
in west-end Toronto, pulled out the blue and white "Referendum Ontario"
brochure he received in the mail. The brochure, written in small type,
attempts to explain the choice.
"There's nothing about the design of this that makes you in any way want to read this," said Mr. Morris, a brand strategist….
Robert Lee and his partner, Lourdes Xavier, said they
voted to keep the existing system because no one explained the
alternative to them.
"Nobody gave me any information," said Mr. Lee, a parks department employee. (news, London Free Press, Oct 11)
"It's not surprising, but it's disappointing,"
Bowdidge [a member of the citizens assembly] said of the referendum
results, referring to criticism of the government for rushing through
the electoral reform process and failing to have an adequate public
education campaign.
"The government set this thing up because it was a
promise from the last election, but they didn't really want it to win,"
he said. "The lack of a decent public education campaign and a timeline
that was very tight ... didn't give people a chance to really stop and
think about it and this is something you really have to think about."
(news, Sudbury Star, Oct 11)
The referendum had no chance," NDP Leader Howard Hampton said late Wednesday as the votes were still being tallied. "All across the province, people didn't know what the issue was. They didn't know what mixed member proportional stood for, so that was not a surprise." (news, CBC News, Oct 10)
"I don't blame people for voting against this," says
Mr. Docherty, an MMP supporter, "because they just don't know what it
means." (news, Ottawa Citizen, Oct 10)
"Whenever you're trying to convince the general public
to make a big decision around the constitution or around changing a
voting structure that has to do with the basics, you can't just hand out
brochures and you can't just talk about it generally," said Lin
Fines-Misiak, a member of Brant Women In Action.
"Right now, you've got a very small contingent at one
end saying 'Yes' and, at the other. a second group saying strongly 'No'
and a whole big group in the middle are saying, 'Gee, I just don't know
enough to make an informed vote so I'm going to vote No. So No is the
easier way to go." (news, Brantford Expositor, Oct 9)
It's complicated. The ins and outs of it are online on
the report of the Citizens
Assembly, the McGuinty-assembled panel that dreamed this up. A
complicated formula would determine how 39 "list" seats would be divided
among the parties. The idea is to use the 39 to "top up" the seats that
under- represented parties won from the province's 90 constituency
seats.
Confused yet? Ontarians need a double-major in
poli-sci and math to figure the darned thing out.
The more complicated a system is, the more likely voters will be to say "the heck with it" and stay home. (op-ed, Niagara Falls Review, Oct 6)
The Elections Ontario Referendum Information Officer made a presentation which explained that there would be a referendum and what the question would be. But when the audience got to ask questions, they didn't get answers. What people wanted to know was why we are having this referendum. What is wrong with our existing system? How would the Citizens' Assembly recommendation improve things? These are important questions we need to understand to make an informed decision. Unfortunately, it turns out the Referendum "Confusion" Officer isn't allowed to answer these questions because it could encourage people to vote for the change and the officer has to be "neutral." Many people in the audience left frustrated and more confused. (letter-to-the-editor, Hanover Post, Oct 5)
[W]hy are we having a referendum on election day which the majority of people don't understand? I haven't heard one leader mention this issue....
My point is that people are being asked to vote on something few know anything about. It's a week before the election and the MMP is a better-kept secret than the Coca-Cola formula. I've probably done more research than the average person on this system and I am not voting for it. Not because it's bad, but because I don't think it has been explained well enough for people to make an intelligent choice. (op-ed, The Londoner, Oct 3)
[A]s the vote approaches, a serious problem has emerged: The voters don't seem to know anything about the referendum. They don't even know that a referendum will be held. Something needs to be done, and quick, to avert disaster…. The fault lies largely with Elections Ontario's so-called "neutral" approach. Their literature focuses on the technical details of the different voting systems and avoids spelling out the substantive debate surrounding the issue, which is the information voters need to make up their minds. They even refused to provide the original Ontario Citizens' Assembly's rationale for recommending the MMP system in the first place. (op-ed, National Post, Oct 2)
I believe Elections Ontario has failed in its mission.
The fact that the Elections Ontario employees cannot even comment on anything except the background or the mechanics of the referendum is, in fact, a strong anti-MMP position. Why? Because based on the mechanism alone, why would anyone choose a system that is slightly more complicated? (transcript of a debate, Globe and Mail, Sept. 28)
Given the ramifications of such a major decision, I am
distressed by the lack of public debate on this issue. Yes, I have seen
the odd article in the papers and even attended a session where the
proposed changes were being examined.
However, I have found most of the information available to be far too academic or just plain confusing. I confess that I am not familiar with the many electoral systems that exist around the world and perhaps I should make it my responsibility to have at least a cursory knowledge. Having said that, I think that I am typical of many Ontario citizens. I have asked a number of people what they know about the proposed MMP system and the upcoming referendum and, sadly, very few are even aware that they are going to be asked to make a decision….
Armed with a lot more information than when I began, I am still not sure how I will vote in the referendum. I certainly understand it better but I haven't read anything that compels me to change a system that appears to have worked for us for the last 200 years. But perhaps I am falling into the trap of not wanting to change because change is difficult and uncertain. (op-ed, Toronto Star, Sept 27)
Referendum Merit Hypothesis
Despite the comments above, the vast majority of the newspaper coverage focused on the comparative merits of the two electoral system choices on the ballot: FPTP and MMP. When the Citizens’ Assembly’s proposal went down to defeat by such a wide margin, it was thus perfectly natural to ascribe the defeat to the superior merit of the arguments against MMP.
The flavor of this argument can be captured by various headlines such as “MMP failed because nobody wanted change” (Oct 13), “Let’s have no more talk of electoral reform; Judging MMP on its merits, voters found it was too complicated, unhinged” (Oct 12), “Adding politicians is just adding more pigs to the trough” (Oct 9), “The wrong kind of electoral reform” (Oct 6) “Six reasons to support MMP” (Oct 4), “Proposed changes to electoral system flawed” (Oct 1), “MMP would mean minority governments” (Sep 29), “MMP only creates more problems” (Sept 29), “Proposed MMP system is a bad idea” (Sep 25), and “New electoral system would be great for failed candidates and party hacks” (Sept. 19).
The argument was also elaborated upon in most of the articles.
"I don't think enough people saw MMP as a way to become enfranchised," said Peter MacLeod, a fellow at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queen's University. "The injustice of the electoral system was not demonstrated. Where you don't make your case, you can't expect anyone to believe you." (news, National Post, Oct 12)
[T]oo bad that, at Thanksgiving time, 2007, the process of electoral reform devised by the Liberals presented Ontarians with a turkey -- not to be petted and admired but slaughtered. The results of the vote -- and the dead proposition -- speak for themselves. (op-ed, The Record, Oct 12)
Despite the unambiguous referendum result, those who
still believe the electoral system needs to be changed are unlikely to
be satisfied. Some proponents of the mixed-member proportional system
are even blaming Elections Ontario's meticulously neutral information
campaign for failing to give voters the information they needed to make
an informed choice and for not telling voters why the
citizens' assembly
supported the proposed system.
They conveniently ignore polls over the course of the campaign that showed the more people knew about the proposal, the less likely they were to vote for it. (editorial, Toronto Star, Oct 12)
I am writing in response to the flyer that many of us
received in our mail-boxes, and the letter to the editor (Daily Miner
and News, Friday, Sept. 28) written by Stan Jolly. Both urge us to vote
in the upcoming Ontario referendum for the proposed Mixed Member
Proportional (MMP) proposal, as opposed to the current First-Past
the-Post (FPTP) system….
The flyer refers to the failings of the status quo. What failings? Using the current First-Past the-Post system throughout the country, Canada has consistently been rated among the best handful of countries in the world in which to live. Sounds OK to me. (op-ed, Daily Miner and News, Oct 9)
Like the fall TV season, MMP promises a lot, but is
unlikely to deliver on most of it. Instead it holds as much peril as
promise. MMP could launch us into a period of permanently unstable
governments, rampant deal-making and a messy, Byzantine system that
manages to alienate even more people from politics. We may soon pine for
the remarkably simple, straightforward FPTP.
So don't be misled by the electoral reform prophets and their MMP miracle cure. Think carefully about what MMP will really be like, and vote accordingly on referendum day. (op-ed, Ottawa Citizen, Sept 26)
Our current system of voting has made Ontario a free and thriving democracy, an economic success and one of the most desirable places in the world to live. Note the number of immigrants that choose Ontario as their Canadian destination. (letter-to-the-editor, Peterborough Examiner, Sept. 26)
There's an old axiom that applies to many things in
life, everything from auto repairs to politics - if it isn't broken,
don't fix it. (op-ed,
Guelph Mercury, Sept. 24)
Former Liberal MPP Jim Breithaupt of Kitchener tore
into the "undemocratic" electoral reform proposed for Ontario at a
debate yesterday at Wilfrid Laurier University.
Breithaupt attacked the provision that would make 39
members of the legislature eligible for seats if appointed by their
parties….
"It is dictatorial, arbitrary and divisive."
(news, The Record, Sept. 20)
Anyone who fears extremism should take a hard look at
the upcoming Ontario election. In less than a month, voters will be
asked to pronounce by referendum on a crazy proposal to redraw the
province's electoral map. The outcome could reshape Canada's political
landscape forever.
The proposed changes would open the door to more power
for political and religious zealots.
(op-ed, Daily Miner and News, Sept 18)
Surprising support for the Referendum Merit Hypothesis came from Gordon Gibson, the government official and think tank analyst who designed the British Columbia citizens assembly that was used as a model for the Ontario citizens assembly. In an op-ed published several days before the referendum vote (“Not all electoral reforms are created equal,” Globe and Mail, October 8, 2007), Gibson endorsed the citizens assembly process and the STV recommendation of the British Columbia citizens assembly while coming out against the MMP recommendation of the Ontario citizens assembly. As part of his analysis, Gibson offered several reasons why the British Columbia and Ontario citizens assemblies came out with different recommendations. Two of them were the signficantly shortened time for deliberation allocated to the Ontario citizens assembly and the fact that the British Columbia citizens assembly picked its own guiding principles whereas the Ontario Citizens assembly had those principles picked for it by the government. Gibson suggests that the government’s guiding principles may have pushed the Ontario Citizens assembly in the direction of MMP. After voicing his opposition to MMP, Gibson concludes: “Whatever happens, the work of these ordinary citizens in tackling a constitutional issue has proven the method to be a significant new piece of machinery for democracy.”
Citizens Assembly Process Hypothesis
Most mainstream media outlets avoided or downplayed the Citizens Assembly Process Hypothesis. I could not find a single article headline that featured it. This may be because opponents of MMP seemed to feel they were on safer ground attacking the merits of the Citizens’ Assembly proposal rather than the Citizens’ Assembly itself. Indeed, many opponents of MMP went out of their way to praise the Citizens’ Assembly—even if only as a brief aside--while nevertheless attacking its recommendations. An example of this “praise the citizens assembly, oppose its recommendations” approach was contained in an editorial in the Pembroke Observer a few days before the election.
The 103 Ontarians who joined the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform and proposed adopting this mixed-member proportional system deserve applause for their hard work, thoughtfulness and civic responsibility. However, our respect for them does not diminish our strong opposition to what they recommend. (Oct 6)
A more vitriolic opponent of MMP still went out of his way to praise the citizens assembly process.
What makes MMP
unattractive is its unaccountability….
The lists will become repositories of failed candidates and party
hacks. How do you spell
cronyism? My guess is MMP….
[E]ven if voters reject MMP, the members of the
Citizens' Assembly that
came up with the proposal should be applauded as being average Ontarians
who got involved - and got us talking about why our vote counts.
And isn't that what democracy is all about? (op-ed,
Kingston Whig-Standard, Sept. 24)
The most common attacks on the citizens assembly process tended to focus on the bias of its members (due to the self-selection resulting from the many randomly selected citizens who chose not to participate to the citizens assembly process), the bias of the citizens assembly’s information providers (who were charged with prejudicing the assembly members in favor of MMP), and the difficulty lay citizens (versus experts) have in evaluating such complex matters as electoral systems.
Here are some of the attacks.
[T]he Citizens' Assembly chose to recommend MMP because they were presented with one-sided arguments that favoured MMP. I know because I attended every public session of the assembly as a despairing observer. (letter-to-the-editor, Oct 13, Ottawa Citizen)
The assembly established by the Liberal government was a randomly chosen collection of giddy Ontarians who thought they were there to "make history." Predictably, they recommended a sharp break from the status quo: a new system called mixed-member proportional, or MMP.
And 63.2 per cent of the voters rejected it on
Wednesday. (op-ed, Guelph Mercury, Oct 12)
Traditionally,
Westminster-style democracies have employed royal commissions (comprised
of experts and/or members of the judiciary) to study issues of great
importance -- for example, the Dubin, Gomery, and Romanov inquiries. New
Zealand, which ultimately did choose to adopt MMP, followed this route.
Here in
Ontario, the issue was left in the hands of a
citizens' assembly whose
members studied the issue on a part-time basis over the course of a
number of weekends.
Unfortunately, leaving such issues in the hands of non-specialists
leaves the process open to undue influence by the academics associated
with the process. (op-ed,
The Record, Oct 12)
[F]or some
unfathomable reason, the Liberal government entrusted the so-called
Citizens' Assembly, an
unelected, unaccountable group, with reforming our most precious
democratic institution -- the electoral process. It put forward MMP….
Citizens' Assembly
types tend to be zealots who won't rest until everyone is brainwashed to
their view. (op-ed, Toronta
Star, Oct 7)
Making
decisions about election reform is like log-rolling while attempting to
perform the Charleston: it may not be something that everyone is
necessarily qualified to actually do, and, not unlike knitting a
sweater, baking a cake, or rotating the tires on a car, it sounds easy
enough, but try doing it in the dark. (op-ed, Kingston
Whig-Standard, Oct 3)
Well, I couldn't help but notice that the Secretariat for the Citizen's Assembly that is recommending MMP is made up entirely of people from the Toronto area. (letter-to-the-editor, Sudbury Star, Oct 3)
As a former
member of the Ontario Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform, I have followed the Star's coverage
of the Assembly and the upcoming referendum with interest. Why is it
that when Star writers refer to the Assembly members who are
recommending the alternative electoral system, they feel it necessary to
refer to them as "ordinary citizens," enclosed within quotation marks?
The implication is that, despite being strangers to one another, coming
from every riding across the province, sharing no political stripe and
holding no political office, they had some common, hidden objective.
The effect of
this is to remove the most knowledgeable, yet unbiased voice from the
discussion. By unbiased, I mean that we have nothing personally to gain.
Political parties have lined up on this issue according to whether the
reforms will be detrimental or advantageous to them. In the B.C.
referendum on electoral reform in 2004, a large number of voters chose
electoral reform simply because they were willing to believe that an
impartial group of fellow citizens who had thoroughly studied the matter
could be relied on to provide good advice. The mocking attitude of the
Star toward the Assembly seems intended to discourage this.
(letter-to-the-editor, Toronto
Star, Sept 26)
One op-ed was noteworthy because the author is a political scientist critiquing his colleagues. The op-ed’s author, William Christian, is identified as a political scientist at the University of Guelph. The author opposes MMP and argues that his colleaugues had undue influence on the citizens assembly process.
I don't want to
denigrate their efforts. They worked hard, but it is difficult to master
the intricacies of various electoral systems. They were "guided" by a
group of political scientists who knew the end result they wanted, which
was a fashionable system known as mixed-member proportional.
(op-ed, Guelph Mercury, Sept 29)
In his op-ed, Christian makes a statement that reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of a citizens assembly and its relationship to elected officials. He says:
I certainly
don't think the people of Ontario are incapable of understanding an
issue like this. They understand far more complicated things. But the
party leaders are not leading. If they don't think the issue is a
priority, why should we?
What Christian doesn’t appear to consider is that elected leaders often avoid discussion of vital public issues when it’s not in their mutual self-interest to do so.
Fitting in the category of the Citizens Assembly Process Hypothesis, here are two critiques of the citizens assembly process written by bloggers:
MMP in Ontario: Vote the way
academics tell you to
Is anyone else slightly suspicious of the “Citizens Assembly” processes that led to the electoral reform proposals in Ontario and British Columbia?.... The whole thing feels like one of those ghastly facilitated exercises where, without any sort of pressure at all, moderators with flip charts and soothing manners and information packages massage and re-educate you into a consensus on, of all things, exactly what the organizers had in mind when they summoned you to the facility. How many of the participants came in thinking we really should keep electing 90 MPPs in ridings, but have parties that get at least three per cent of the vote appoint, in total, 39 more MPPs to bring their share in the legislature up to their share of the popular vote? Why would they?
One wonders what kind of outrage would have greeted the announcement that the assembly members in B.C. and Ontario had met, been educated by academics on electoral system matters, and concluded that the existing SMP system was in fact the best system and that there would be no referendum. One could imagine the sneering responses of the academics themselves. “How foolish to have left such an important question to mere citizens!” As it is, those citizens, with just a little help from the academics themselves, have come to the correct decision and are therefore the toast of political science departments from Victoria to Saint Johns. (Aaron Unruh, http://www.thepolitic.com/archives/2007/10/09/mmp-in-ontario-vote-the-way-academics-tell-you-to, Oct 11)
How Did The Citizens Assembly
Get It So Wrong?
It would seem
reasonable that if you randomly selected 103 people from across the
province, one per riding (plus the chair), and adjusted for age and sex,
that their conclusions would be very close to those that the population
as a whole would arrive at. And yet, the general population soundly
rejected their proposal for mixed member proportional (MMP). How did
they get it so wrong?
Let me begin by giving a big thank you to all those people who sat on
the Citizens' Assembly. They did a lot of work on our behalf. However,
they were far off the mark on what Ontarians wanted….
From near the very beginning of the Assembly's work, one of the "guiding
principles" for the Citizens' Assembly was, "Fairness of
Representation". They defined this fairness, in part, as, "parties hold
seats in proportion to the votes they receive". By accepting that
definition of fairness the outcome was predetermined to be some form of
proportional representation. And I believe that is where they got off
track.
You see, that has never been a big issue with the majority of Ontarians
- and the referendum helped prove that. Many political scientists have
been bothered by that, but my personal experience has been that many
political scientists support parties that would benefit from MMP (i.e.:
NDP, Green Party, etc.) (anonymous,
http://ontariommp.blogspot.com,
Oct 13)
Evidence
Shortly before the election, opponents of MMP and some political scientists started claiming that polling data indicated that the more the public knew about MMP, the less they liked it. If this was true, the Referendum Campaign Hypothesis would be greatly weakened. These claims appeared to have been based on an apparently rigorous poll done for the Globe and Mail by its pollster, Strategic Counsel. The Globe and Mail article was entitled: “More voters understand proposed electoral changes, but fewer support them” (Oct 9). The body of the article observed: “What's really intriguing about the Strategic Counsel survey is the finding that the more Ontarians know about the proposed change, the more inclined they are to vote against it.”
However, there is something strange about this
result. The
Globe and Mail commissioned
two polls by Strategic Counsel, one conducted Sept. 10-13 and one
conducted Oct 6-7. Of the
two polls, only the data from the first poll is currently publicly
available on the Strategic Counsel website.
The data from that poll appear
to contradict the claims in the October 9
Globe and Mail article.
The narrative summary of the first poll says: “Among
decided referendum voters who have some level of knowledge of MMP,
six-in-ten also support the proposed changes whereas 60 percent of those
who know “nothing” say they intend to vote against the proposed
changes.” (p. 5). The data
to which this summary refers is included below.
In my reading of these poll results, I see no ambiguity: those who were more familiar with MMP were more likely to support it. Assuming that the data from both polls are valid, the question then becomes: why would the results be so different in polls conducted only three weeks apart?
Data honchos might also like to note that Strategic Counsel did a similar poll for the British Columbia referendum, so there are potentially more interesting findings than the ones I’ve reported here.
Another election eve poll reported in the press claimed that 75% of voters said they had enough information about the referendum issue to form an opinion about it. But the definition of “enough” was unclear. It could simply mean that voters had simply decided the issue was not worth the effort to understand and that the safest course of action would thus be to vote for the status quo.
As for whether the Citizens’ Assembly process as implemented in Ontario was fundamentally biased in favor of MMP, I don’t know what data set we’ll be able to use to answer this question. Assume, for example, that we accept the self-selection hypothesis as equally valid for both the British Columbia and Ontario citizens assemblies. That wouldn’t explain why the recommendation of the British Columbia Citizens’ Assembly turned out to be much more popular than that of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly. Testing the hypothesis that information providers were biased and that this bias determined the outcome of the Citizens’ Assembly’s recommendation may be even more difficult.
I’m going to avoid the discussion about the merits of MMP. But I think it’s noteworthy that the Law Commission of Canada issued a report in 2004, Voting Counts: Electoral Reform for Canada, recommending an MMP electoral system for Canada’s federal government. That suggests that the citizens assembly members weren’t quite the crazy, impressionable yahoos that some MMP opponents claimed.
Lessons Learned
One of the lessons learned from British Columbia, Ontario, and the Netherlands is that dominant party elites aren’t going to wage vigorous public education campaigns on the recommendations of a citizens assembly, especially if their silence enhances the odds of their preferred outcome prevailing. From a rational choice perspective, this is perfectly understandable. When those parties are in the minority, democratic reforms to help minorities are in their self-interest. But after they attain power, this is no longer the case. Moreover, the purpose of a citizens assembly is to get around incumbents’ conflict of interest, so party elites know that their arguments for or against a citizens assembly’s recommendations will be treated as inherently suspect.
A related problem is that powerful interest groups have not waged battle on this type of issue. On many referendums, well-heeled interest groups wage aggressive public information campaigns. That was not the case here. There was neither vigorous support nor opposition, possibly because democratic reform does not promise the type of selective benefits or harms that motivate most powerful special interest groups to action. The combined budget of the independent yes and no referendum campaigns was less than $500,000, a pittance for a province the size of Ontario (a more accurate tally of referendum campaign expenditures should be available after May 10, 2008--six months after election day--when Elections Ontario mandates that all registered political entities must file their campaign financial statements). As of October 3, media reports estimated that less than $200,000 had been raised by the combined yes and no groups. (“Changing the Legislature’s Look,” Globe and Mail, Oct 3).
Advocates of the Citizens’ Assembly’s MMP recommendation understood this political logic, which is why they placed so much hope in the information campaign of Elections Ontario, the Ontario agency that administers elections. Elections Ontario claimed to spend $6.8 million on the referendum’s information campaign, a sum more than ten times greater than all the non-government sources combined. When MMP advocates discovered that Elections Ontario intended to use these funds only to provide citizens with sample ballots and basic, neutral information about the mechanics of FPTP and MMP, they were bitterly disappointed and vigorously complained to the media.
In my judgment, the observation that the Elections Ontario information campaign was wholly unsuited to addressing the fundamental concerns of the public about the merits of MMP was on target. What was off target was the expectation that a government agency could or should pursue more than such modest educational goals.
So if party elites, interest groups, and the government cannot be expected to finance an effective, user friendly public information campaign, who can? The answer, I suggest, should be foundations. In Washington, DC and elsewhere in the United States, almost all the domestic democratic reform think tanks and advocates are funded by foundations. So why shouldn’t foundations also fund democratic reform information campaigns supporting or opposing ballot referendums? The answer, I believe, is that it is illegal for them to do so. It would jeapardize their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Thus, I recommend that a new exemption for political activity be carved out for 501(c)(3) organizations. When a democratic reform is on the ballot where incumbent policymakers and party elites have a clear and present conflict of interest, foundations should be able to step into the vacuum and fund information campaigns without jeopardizing their 501(c)(3) status.
Even without a modification to the 501(c)(3) rules, foundations could still fund useful educational materials. But that would require including the foundation funding cycle in the design of the citizens assembly process. Foundations typically take many months from the time someone proposes a project to them to the time they fund the project. Six months or a year are not unusual. In Ontario, the Citizens’ Assembly’s recommendations came out in mid-May for a referendum in mid-October, slightly less than five months later. That’s too fast for the great majority of foundations. Thus, it may be desirable to extend the duration of the campaign period so that independent sources of financing can be lined up.
America is unique in the extent to which foundation money is available for democratic reform and other charitable purposes. In countries where foundations are weaker, the recommendations above are correspondingly less relevant. An alternative option would be to give a citizens assembly direct control over its own PR, just like elected officials and government agencies all have their own PR budgets. The way citizens assemblies are currently conceptualized, however, this is probably not a viable option. They already have too much to do in too little time.
Lastly, I want to comment on what I believe to be the media’s deeply flawed framing of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly’s referendum recommendation. The ballot referendum was framed as a choice between the status quo electoral system and MMP. The media picked up on this framing and devoted the vast majority of its discussion to the pros and cons of MMP. This I believe reflected a fundamental misunderstanding of the democratic theory underlying a citizens assembly.
The reason for having a citizens assembly and not just a ballot referendum is that designing an electoral system requires great expertise. Attempting to replicate the educational process that a citizens assembly underwent is inherently a doomed and unrealistic endeavor. The focus of the information campaign, therefore, should focus on whether or not a particular citizens assembly process is trustworthy.
This, of course, is how we make almost all complex decisions. When a doctor recommends a course of action to me, I do not decide to spend ten years of my life attending medical school and reading medical literature so I can replicate his decision making process. The key decision I make is whether I can trust the doctor’s recommendation. That’s a much easier type of decision to make; it’s also the only type of realistic decision that can be made. If everybody attempted to become an expert on every decision they had to make, the economy and political system would collapse.
The debate, then, should have centered on whether the particular citizens assembly process in Ontario was trustworthy. This wouldn’t have precluded a debate on the merits of MMP but that debate would have been just one part of this larger debate.
An additional advantage of this framing is that it would provide the media with a greater incentive to scrutinize and report on the citizens assembly process itself. This, in turn, would prod citizens assemblies to improve their processes to more closely match their practice with their ideal.
One interesting thought experiment would be to subject every decision made by a legislative body to a referendum. How often would we get the type of large discrepancy we got between the vote of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly and the general population? My guess is that on type of very complex, difficult to understand, and boring issue the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly dealt with, the answer might be “quite often.”
Some writers did place the question of the Citizens’ Assembly’s trustworthiness front and center in their decision making process.
The Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform spent months studying various
electoral systems and it recommended MMP. The assembly was created by
the province in response to demands for electoral reform that have been
brewing for years. Why are Ontario citizens ignoring the findings? Those
individuals on the assembly are our representatives from the public and
have nothing to gain.
I trust their findings much more than those of
politicians, journalists or members of the public spouting nonsense in
letters to newspapers. (letter-to-the-editor, Toronto Star, Oct 9)
I trust the 103 voters who made up the Ontario
Citizen's Assembly and
who studied and discussed many electoral systems over eight months and
decided that change was needed. I am thankful for this opportunity and
will vote for electoral improvement in the referendum.
(letter-to-the-editor, Peterborough Examiner, Oct 5)
[From Lynda
Dill, a member of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly.]
May I also note that this system was designed and proposed by the
Citizens Assembly on
Electoral Reform. We were 103
average citizens selected at random….
I guess we didn't think that you, the voters, would think that we
were such idiots that we would propose a system where 39 MPPs would be
paid to do nothing. (letter-to-the-editor, Stratford Beacon Herald, Oct
5)
I am completely in favour of making the change. Let me tell you why…. The Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform has recommended that we adopt a new voting system in Ontario. The 103 members of the Assembly were randomly selected, one from every riding. They were not appointed by any political party. They were average people with no political agenda. (letter-to-the-editor, Timmins Daily Press, Oct 4)
Here is my favorite:
[Election Ontario’s information campaign is] a
studiously even-handed affair, but it fails to do the two things it
needs to do: first, making the proposed system as plain as day, and
second, communicating why the Assembly thought it was a smart enough
idea to recommend.
Instead, what we get is a presentation that's so
dreary and neutral it says almost nothing. You can hunt around to find
some paragraphs of small print explaining Mixed Member Proportional, or
you can watch a strangely off-kilter video that bogs down in the
mechanics of the referendum itself, before blowing past the new system
with a perfunctory explanation. Neither will leave you with a clear
picture of what's being proposed here.
Worse, it doesn't satisfactorily explain the critical
"Why?'s" - like why should we support MMP? At first blush, it makes
sense that the government should remain neutral. But this high-minded
approach manages to imply that the
Citizen's Assembly came
up with two equally valid systems of government for us to consider. In
fact, the Assembly decided that Mixed Member Proportional was the better
way to elect MPPs, and that our current system should go out the window.
This referendum is really a ratification of their decision. To make an informed vote, we don't merely need to know how MMP works; we need to know what made the Assembly think it's such a great idea compared to the status quo. And that's where this site falls down: To give a complete picture, it needs to broadcast the results of the process it set in motion, and it doesn't. By hiding behind a neutral stance, the Ontario government has hung its own election reforms out to dry….
This whole exercise began with a new form of
decision-making that might have spurred some faith among the
disenfranchised, a return to the fleeting, happy thought that educated
citizens could make good choices. And, in the home stretch, this is
where it winds up: half-baked voter education, mud-slinging websites,
dumbed-down ads.
Democracy staying true to its dumb, ugly self. [op-ed, Globe and Mail, Sept. 21)
Concluding Thoughts
The overwhelming defeat of the referendum recommended by the citizens assembly was a political blow—but not a mortal one--to citizens assembly advocates. The fact is that even opponents of MMP were very cautious about attacking the citizens assembly process, which tells us that it was widely perceived to have significant democratic legitimacy.
Less clear is whether the defeat of the referendum undercut its democratic rationale. From the standpoint of democratic theory, a large discrepancy between the opinions of a citizens assembly and the general public may be a sign of success, not failure. After all, why go through the bother of a citizens assembly if individuals within the general public can replicate the citizens assembly’s decision making process much more efficiently in a referendum? If you can arrive at the same decision with ten minutes of work rather than 500 hours, why spend the extra time? Of course, this analysis sidesteps the critical role of cues in the voters’ decision making process. But when political elites either have a conflict of interest or stay on the sidelines concerning a particular debate, many of those cues are missing or corrupted.
Surely it must be acknowledged that citizens assemblies, like all democratic processes, have lots of problems. But the alternative of placing politicians in charge of their own re-election rules may be even worse. The same goes for placing complex electoral reforms on the ballot without the benefit of a democratically legitimate independent body to vet them. It may be instructive that the last eight redistricing referendums in California have gone down to defeat. One popular explanation is that the public has been suspicious of the politically self-interested motives of the redistricting reform advocates. When it comes to complex democratic reforms, the public wants the author of the reform to be an entity they trust.
No so-called “independent” electoral body, including citizens assemblies, may be completely immune from external, elite manipulation. But compared to other types of independent bodies, such as bipartisan electoral commissions, citizens assemblies may be uniquely well designed to avoid pro-incumbent bias while preserving democratic accountability.
Although citizens assembly based democratic reform appears to be dead in Ontario, a closely related reform appears to be gathering steam. Ontario’s Ministry of Health has announced plans to form citizen advisory committees modeled after the citizens assembly and chaired by George Thomson, Chair of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.
2) Other Citizens Assembly News
Other than the Ontario referendum news, the most
important citizens assembly news during the past month may have been
presidential candidate John Edwards’ speech announcing his “One
Democracy” initiative, including a “Citizen Congress” closely akin to
Dahl’s minipopulous and Fishkin’s deliberative opinion poll.
Edwards made no mention of citizens assemblies in his speech.
But like U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s endorsement of
citizen juries over the summer (see the last issue of the
Citizens Assembly News Digest),
independent observers have taken Edwards’ initiative as a significant
step toward educating the public about and eventually endorsing citizens
assemblies. For example,
Archon Fung, Professor of Public Policy at Havard’s Kennedy School, of
Government, started an op-ed by describing Edwards’ initiative and then
concluded with the following observations (see “A Citizen Congress,”
Boston Globe, October 16, p.
11):
Sitting politicians have a strong interest in
creating rules such as electoral district boundaries that get them
reelected. In part because politicians, not voters, make the rules of
democracy, congressional incumbents who seek reelection win 98 percent
of the time.
When the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and
Ontario sought to reform their electoral systems recently, they created
Citizens' Assemblies to
develop new voting rules rather than having politicians decide. The
British Columbia Assembly had 160 members and 103 people participated in
the Ontario Assembly. In both cases, members were randomly selected,
like juries in the United States. Each assembly met for several months.
Their final recommendations were not merely advisory; they went straight
to voters in popular referendums….
If they become prominent and credible, Citizen
congresses and assemblies have the potential to help connect Americans
to their government and increase trust in public institutions. If
Americans see each other deliberating sensibly about critical issues and
public leaders heed what they say, it will be palpable evidence that
government really does care about what ordinary people think.
Political leaders in Canada, Britain, Brazil, and
many other countries have already recognized the potential of public
participation and instituted important new ways for citizens to
influence government. Rather than being the world leader in democracy,
America is lagging behind in its democratic imagination and ingenuity.
Edwards's proposal marks an important, if modest, step to catch up.
Perhaps it will empower ordinary Americans in the political process and,
eventually, make America an example of democracy that is truly worth
following.
3) Research
At least several papers on citizens assemblies are expected to be presented at the upcomong annual meeting of the Southern Political Science Association.
4) iSolon.org Update
Please check the testimonials concerning the Citizens Assembly News Digest. For those of you who responded to my request for testimonials, thank you. For those of you who haven’t, it is not too late.
I’ve compiled a grid summarizing the Ontario, Netherlands, and British Columbia citizens assemblies. I’ll be adding to that grid and other parts of iSolon.org in the coming months. If you have a paper on citizens assemblies that I can post, please send it to me.
5) Next Citizens Assembly News Digest
Barring a major unexpected development, such as Prime Minister Gordon Brown proposing a citizens assembly to reform the U.K.’s electoral system, I don’t plan on sending out another Citizens Assembly News Digest until January 2008. The next major known citizens assembly event will be the May 12, 2009 British Columbia referendum (only 18 months away) on whether or not to support the May 15, 2005 recommendation of the British Columbia Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.
6) Newspaper Articles
10/15/07
Referendum on electoral reform a 'unmitigated disaster'
Globe and Mail - Canada
Mr. MacLeod said the success of the citizen's assembly is the
bigger story in Wednesday's referendum. "The real democratic innovation
is the citizens ...
See all stories on this topic
Ontario referendum results expected overnight
CTV.ca - Canada
"The final report (by the Citizens' Assembly) was released
in May. I don't see why you wouldn't start a public education campaign
right away,'' he said. ...
See all stories on this topic
10/14/07
Are
voters ready to throw system out?
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
... system or opting for the new mixed-member proportional
representation (MMP) system recommended by the Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform. ...
See all stories on this topic
Rejection of electoral reform plan expected
National Post - Canada
Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government announced in 2004 that a
citizens' assembly of 103 average citizens from every
riding in the province would evaluate ...
See all stories on this topic
10/13/07
MMP
doomed from start
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
The outcome of the Ontario referendum on a mixed-member proportional
voting system was predictable from the day it was proposed by the
Citizens' Assembly on ...
See all stories on this topic
10/12/07
Electoral reform vote set up to fail; Local citizens' assembly
...
Owen Sound Sun Times - Owen Sound,Ontario,Canada
Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound's representative of Ontario's first Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform blames the Ontario government for
dooming the electoral ...
See all stories on this topic
Not
all electoral reforms are created equal
Globe and Mail - Canada
A citizens assembly laboured for months to come up with Ontario's
new proposal, the mixed member proportional system. In British Columbia,
we also had a ...
See all stories on this topic
MMP
goes down to defeat
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
... one of 103 members of a citizens' assembly that
proposed the change. "But at least a lot of people ended up thinking of
electoral reform. ...
See all stories on this topic
10/11/07
What
Do You Need To Vote?
CityNews - Toronto,Canada
... to elect members to the provincial legislature? -The
alternative electoral system proposed by the National Citizens'
Assembly (Mixed Member Proportional).
See all stories on this topic
10/10/07
MMP
means fairer election
Newsdurhamregion.com - Durham,Ontario,Canada
With respect to the list members, the Citizens Assembly report
quite clearly states that the list members and the process used to
select them will be ...
See all stories on this topic
Putting trust in the public
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
The Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform spent months
studying various electoral systems and it recommended MMP. The
assembly was created by the province ...
See all stories on this topic
Reform is badly needed
Waterloo Record - Waterloo,Ontario,Canada
The Citizens' Assembly studied all electoral systems with
their benefits and problems, and is recommending that Ontario adopt a
blending of our current ...
See all stories on this topic
10/9/07
Nearly 3 million residents still don't know about referendum, says
...
CBC Toronto - Toronto,Ontario,Canada
Elections Ontario has bungled its handling of a campaign to boost public
awareness of a vote on electoral reform, members of a citizens'
assembly charged ...
See all stories on this topic
The
wrong kind of electoral reform
Waterloo Record - Waterloo,Ontario,Canada
The 103 Ontarians who joined the Citizens' Assembly on
Electoral Reform and proposed adopting this mixed-member proportional
system deserve applause for ...
See all stories on this topic
Making sense of proposed electoral reforms
Waterloo Record - Waterloo,Ontario,Canada
That committee came up with recommendations regarding the creation of
the Citizens' Assembly and the referendum itself. In March
2006, the government filed ...
See all stories on this topic
10
reasons to say no to MMP
Ottawa Citizen - Ontario, Canada
I respect and admire the work of the Citizen's Assembly that is
recommending a mixed-member proportional voting system in Ontario.
...
See all stories on this topic
10/8/07
Guelph Candidate Question & Answers
GuelphNow - Guelph,Ontario,Canada
Already a demonstration of democracy, the randomly selected 103 member
Citizens Assembly considered the existing First Past the Post
system (FTPT) as well ...
See all stories on this topic
Fear-mongering and opposition to democratic reform nothing new ...
Canada NewsWire (press release) - Canada
... by the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral
Reform, an independent body of randomly-chosen voters who spent eight
months studying electoral systems. ...
See all stories on this topic
10/7/07
Making an informed vote, part three
Excalibur Online - Toronto,Canada
The mixed-member proportional (MMP) system, proposed by the Ontario
Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform, is intended to repair
the flaws of the single ...
See all stories on this topic
Seek
information to be informed on MMP
Hamilton Mountain News - Ontario, Canada
Ask your local MPP to send you either a copy of the Citizens'
Assembly report or a copy of the brochure "One Ballot, Two Votes,"
which gives the report in ...
See all stories on this topic
10/6/07
Why
students don't vote...and why we should
Insider Media Group - Toronto,Ontario,Canada
Mixed Member Proportional recommended by the Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform. Again, do your research on the pros
and cons of each option. ...
See all stories on this topic
Attention News Editors:
Canada NewsWire (press release) - Canada
As media partner for the Citizens' Assembly, TVO
documented online the activities of the 103-member assembly,
which proposed the revision to the electoral ...
See all stories on this topic
Needed: a TV debate on Ontario's MMP referendum
National Post - Canada
They even refused to provide the original Ontario Citizens'
Assembly's rationale for recommending the MMP system in the first
place. ...
See all stories on this topic
Ontario Referendum: Know where you stand
Insider Media Group - Toronto,Ontario,Canada
The Citizens' Assembly, a group of 103 randomly selected
citizens from across Ontario, was mandated in 2006 by the
government to study our existing ...
See all stories on this topic
Would
MMP enhance democracy?
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
Future generations deserve better, which leads us to the alternative
recommended by the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral
Reform. ...
See all stories on this topic
10/5/07
Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform got it right: Ontario ...
Canada NewsWire (press release) - Canada
The group also called on the Ontario media to step forward and provide
more substantive information on the Citizens' Assembly's
proposal for electoral ...
See all stories on this topic
10/4/07
Vote
a key test for democratic reform
Globe and Mail - Canada
... associate professor in political science at Queen's
University and academic director for the Ontario Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform, ...
See all stories on this topic
Coyne: Why PR works
National Post - Canada
In an effort to assuage fears of the unknown, the Citizens'
Assembly -- the body of ordinary folks who spent months sifting
through the alternatives ...
See all stories on this topic
10/3/07
Does
Ontario have electoral dysfunction?
Queen's Journal - Kingston,Ontario,Canada
But when he heard about the Citizens' Assembly and the
potential for electoral reform in Ontario, Field decided he couldn't
stay quiet on the issue. ...
See all stories on this topic
Rural
ridings are favoured
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
It is particularly arrogant to dismiss the recommendations of the
Citizens' Assembly, which after studying many models of PR,
decided that MMP was the best ...
See all stories on this topic
10/1/07
Ontario referendum flying under the radar -- even with Air Farce
Globe and Mail - Canada
The Oct. 10 referendum comes out of a provincial initiative that
involved asking 103 "ordinary" Ontarians to sit in a Citizens
Assembly and talk about ...
See all stories on this topic
MMP
will assure women, minorities of a role in gov't, say propo
Brockville Recorder and Times - Ontario, Canada
She said 104 members of the Citizens Assembly spent eight months
working hard to come up with a "made in Ontario" proposal that combines
better aspects of ...
See all stories on this topic
9/30/07
Assembly
touts electoral reform
Orangeville Citizen - Orangeville,Canada
Ted Alexander, representing the Citizens Assembly, presented a
video purporting to show how the members had arrived at their
recommendations. ...
See all stories on this topic
The
Ontario referendum on electoral reform
Globe and Mail - Canada
The MMP system -- which the citizens' assembly recommended
after seven months of study and consultation -- would ensure that each
party's share of seats in ...
See all stories on this topic
9/29/07
VoteForMMP.ca calls upon John Tory to reject appointment of MMP ...
CNW Telbec (Communiqués de presse) - Canada
Most advanced democracies have moved toward some kind of more
proportional system, as the Ontario Citizens' Assembly has
recommended Ontarians adopt. ...
See all stories on this topic
9/28/07
A new
way to vote
Queen's Journal - Kingston,Ontario,Canada
On April 15, Ontario's Citizens' Assembly on Electoral
Reform voted to recommend Ontario adopt a Mixed Member Proportional
electoral system. ...
See all stories on this topic
Andrea Horwath, NDP
Hamilton Mountain News - Ontario, Canada
Andrea Horwath and the ONDP support the Ontario Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform's recommendation for MMP. 2. The
Ontario NDP believes reducing ...
See all stories on this topic
Lynn
Rees Lambert to host debate on voting system
Kingston This Week - Ontario, Canada
... First Past The Post or vote for change and bring in the
Mixed-Member Proportional system, as recommended by the Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform. ...
See all stories on this topic
9/27/07
Momentous choice for voters
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
There is a wealth of information regarding the referendum that clearly
outlines our current system and the MMP version proposed by the
Citizens' Assembly. ...
See all stories on this topic
9/26/07
Making an informed vote, part two
Excalibur Online - Toronto,Canada
Yet, there are certain qualities of SMP that are criticized by the
Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. The main
argument against SMP is that it ...
See all stories on this topic
Take
a good look at reform
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
As a former member of the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on
Electoral Reform, I have followed the Star's coverage of the Assembly
and the upcoming referendum ...
See all stories on this topic
No
more politicians
Mississauga News - Ontario, Canada
... present the full ramifications and undemocratic features of
this mixed member proportional system as cobbled up by the so-called
Citizens' Assembly. ...
See all stories on this topic
9/25/07
Get
message out on referendum
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
Earlier this year, the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral
Reform, a panel of 103 "ordinary citizens" struck by the Liberal
government, recommended mixed-member ...
See all stories on this topic
9/23/07
Voters will be asked how future governments are formed
Brampton Guardian - Ontario, Canada
The Citizens' Assembly proposes the latter. In 2005, the
Liberal government announced a review of the province's electoral
system. Average citizens from ...
See all stories on this topic
9/21/07
What's the question?
Globe and Mail - Canada
The recommendation comes from a panel of 104 randomly-selected Ontarians
called the Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform. Set up as a
result of a Liberal ...
See all stories on this topic
Election Reform on The Agenda with Steve Paikin live from U of T's
...
Canada NewsWire (press release) - Canada
Viewers can go to tvo.org/theagenda following the show to join a live
chat with Steve Paikin, learn more about The Citizen's Assembly
on Electoral Reform, ...
See all stories on this topic
Making an informed vote
Excalibur Online - Toronto,Canada
The Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform believes that
this is, in fact, the case. Ontario's current electoral system, known as
the single member ...
See all stories on this topic
Should we change the system?; Yes
Waterloo Record - Waterloo,Ontario,Canada
The thoughtful and reflective report of the Citizen's Assembly
has provided us with a choice between our existing system and a
mixed-member proportional ...
See all stories on this topic
9/20/07
Accurate representation matters
New Hamburg Independent - New Hamburg,ON,Canada
... Paul Knowles states his belief that first past the post is
"far superior" to the proportional system recommended by the Ontario
Citizens' Assembly. ...
See all stories on this topic
Information evening on electoral
reform
Kawartha Media Group - Peterborough,Ontario,Canada
The provincial government gave the Citizen's Assembly on
Electoral Reform a goal to assess Ontario's current electoral system as
well as others, ...
See all stories on this topic
The
faces behind the question
London Free Press - Canada
That could change if voters choosing a government for the next four
years also accept the recommendation of the Ontario Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral ...
See all stories on this topic
9/18/07
Understand the question
Barrie Advance - Ontario, Canada
The existing system (First Past The Post) or the alternative electoral
system proposed by the Citizens' Assembly (Mixed Member
Proportional)" Used in Upper ...
See all stories on this topic
Voters will be asked if they want to change
Barrie Advance - Ontario, Canada
During a consultation phase, the Citizens Assembly heard from
Ontarians, those here for generations and those newly arrived. "Some
people preferred a system ...
See all stories on this topic
From
Monday's Globe and Mail
Globe and Mail - Canada
With respect to the enthusiasms of the citizens assembly, MMP is
a political scientist's dream. It offers the same potential to rip apart
Ontario's body ...
See all stories on this topic
Foolish Ontario could muck up country
Edmonton Sun - Alberta, Canada
A citizen's assembly, mandated to review electoral inequities,
proposed the changes. They recommended the direct vote by every
citizen be nixed in favour of ...
See all stories on this topic
The
Tragedy Of Kentlands
AHRC News Services - San Juan Capistrano,CA,USA
During my "visit" to the site, I noticed something called the "Kentlands
Citizens Assembly". Aside from the fact that it sounds like
something extracted ...
See all stories on this topic
9/15/07
Local
provincial candidates' provide views of Oct. 10 referendum issue
Stoney Creek News - Ontario, Canada
That's exactly what Premier McGuinty had in mind, when he announced a
Citizens Assembly to examine Ontario's electoral system called First
Past the Post, ...
See all stories on this topic
Green
Party could win big in Ontario referendum
CBC Ottawa - Ontario, Canada
MMP is the system endorsed by a citizens' assembly on
electoral reform appointed by the Ontario government. In April, the
province passed legislation ...
See all stories on this topic
Should Ontario vote for electoral
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
The model proposed last May by the members of the Ontario Citizens'
Assembly, after public hearings and study of systems in other
countries, is not "radical ...
See all stories on this topic
Ontario's Big Decision--but Do Voters Understand the Question?
Epoch Times - New York,NY,USA
The Citizens Assembly, composed of 52 per cent women and 52 per
cent men aged between 19 and 78, undertook a nine-month intense study of
different electoral ...
See all stories on this topic
Hamilton Centre Candidates Debate on
Poverty Issues
Raise the Hammer - Canada
We are also pleased that Jeff Witt, a volunteer member of the
Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform has agreed to attend and
present a brief overview on the ...
See all stories on this topic
Pollsters only need to make one call this election period -- to me
Newsdurhamregion.com - Durham,Canada
If you're like me and are somewhat frustrated by your voting record, you
might want to check out The Ontario Citizens Assembly website at
...
See all stories on this topic
Electoral reform on ballot? Who knew?
Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
This is all a bit depressing for many on the 104-member Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform who spent months studying electoral
systems before choosing ...
See all stories on this topic
7) Blog Entries
10/15/07
MMP
Defeated But Not Vanquished (ahem, Ian Urquhart)
By Davey's Politics(Davey's Politics)
Further, the method of creating a Citizen's Assembly to review
our electoral system allowed the subject to move forward without
requiring the time and attention of our elected politicians, who were
free to discuss the other important ...
Davey's
Politics - http://daveyspolitics.blogspot.com/
Pointing the finger
By Matthew Rae(Matthew Rae)
The issue has been around since the last election (2003) when McGuinty
said he'd set up an assembly to look at electoral reform. Then we
had the Citizens' Assembly touring the province to study
the matter. Then we had the campaign here ...
Vote for MMP -
Ottawa - http://mmpottawa.blogspot.com/
BC's
Citizen Assembly
By leftwingfemina(leftwingfemina)
Warren was a guest of the Philosophy and Political Science Depts. and
spoke on the BC's Citizen Assembly. This group of 160 citizens
were chosen almost at random to participate in a study on electoral
reform, specifically the STV, ...
Women in
Canadian Politics - http://leftwingfemina.blogspot.com/
10/14/07
Welcome to the revamped 'Liberals For Electoral Reform' site
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
With the defeat of the Citizens' Assembly's Mixed Member
Proportional proposal this week, we've decided to revamp this site with
a new title and mission: to promote the cause of electoral reform both
in Ontario and across Canada. ...
Liberals For
Electoral Reform - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
10/13/07
A few
thoughts on Ontario's referendum on electoral reform
By NB taxpayer(NB taxpayer)
...we could avoid the BC situation if we were to establish a Citizens'
Assembly not for the purpose of pre-selecting a single option to
be placed on the ballot in opposition to FPTP, but rather to design
several options, which would be ...
Countering the
Nanny State - http://nbtaxpayers.blogspot.com/
Why
political parties must take sides on electoral reform.
By Gauntlet(Gauntlet)
The Citizens' Assembly were asked to vote either for a new
system of their design, or for the existing one. They voted over 90% in
favour of the new system. Ontarians, when asked the same question, voted
37% in favour. ...
Gauntlet.ca - http://www.gauntlet.ca/
Status Quo Ante: Not Good Enough
By allanmillard
His action epitomizes all that is wrong with the present system and the
way he set about keeping his promise while making certain that the
Citizens' Assembly would lead to failure. McGuinty has
decreed that 8% of the voters (Green Party ...
Your Agenda:
Campaign Tales - http://campaigntales.wordpress.com
The
Mistake Of The Yes Side
By Mixed Member Proportional(Mixed Member Proportional)
Whichever of these strategies you believe, one thing you do not do is
focus on your weaknesses. And that is what the yes side ended up doing
throughout most of the campaign. (On Monday I will do an assessment of
the Citizens Assembly)
Mixed Member Proportional - http://ontariommp.blogspot.com/
10/12/07
1:17:
Democratic Disconnect...
By David Pal
Disconnection was certainly evident upstairs at the bar where members of
the Citizen's Assembly and the Student's Assembly
were gathering for one final get together. One bar patron next to me
inquired about what event was filling up the ...
Spacing Votes • blogging Ontario's... - http://spacing.ca/votes
Ontarians embrace the status quo!
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
With 25839 of 27679 polls reporting: The existing electoral system
(First-Past-the-Post) 2490678 63.3% 101 ridings The alternative
electoral system proposed by the Citizens' Assembly (Mixed
Member Proportional) 1444527 ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
MMP
just ot the right alternative
The Citizens'' Assembly needs to be continued and
instructed to look at more alternatives. We need a longer debate on the
alternatives before we choice a system to be put before the electorate.
Eric C. Bow -
http://ericcbow.spaces.live.com/
Ontario The Day After
By Dirk
The Liberal government never wanted MMP despite the recommendations of
the Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform.But then why would
they,like the Conservatives the Liberals profit from the status quo.
Apathy,low voter turnout,and FPTP ...
Engaged
Spectator - http://engagedspectator.wordpress.com
10/11/07
Ontario's big decision
By AviShalom(Michael J.W. Stickings)
(Full disclosure here: I am acknowledged in the Citizens Assembly's
technical report for advice I gave; however, I was consulted only after
the citizens had come to their decision that they would propose
MMP, and I received no ...
The Reaction
-- by Michael JW Stickings - http://the-reaction.blogspot.com/
Election Day-Top 10 Reasons to Vote for MMP
By Matthew Rae(Matthew Rae)
Citizens' Assembly recommended MMP. MMP is recommended by
the independent Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral
Reform, a body of 103 randomly chosen voters who studied and deliberated
for eight months on the best voting system for ...
Vote for MMP -
Ottawa - http://mmpottawa.blogspot.com/
Ontario referendum should approve MMP
by 84%, but will more likely ...
By Jason Diceman
At the end of their 8 month learning, consultation and deliberation
process the 103 members of the the Ontario Citizens' Assembly
voted 84% in approval of Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) over the
current First-Past-the-Post (FPP). ...
Co-op Tools - organization democracy... - http://get.cooptools.ca
MMP
in Ontario: Vote the way academics tell you to
By Aaron Unruh
Is anyone else slightly suspicious of the "Citizens Assembly"
processes that led to the electoral reform proposals in Ontario and
British Columbia? Yes, the idea of involving ordinary citizens in
making such important decisions does ...
ThePolitic.com - http://www.thepolitic.com
10/10/07
What
Do You Want From Your Vote? The MMP Debate Boiled Down.
By Davey's Politics(Davey's Politics)
But they are not going through another citizen-driven
deliberative process, they are only going to give the Citizens'
Assembly another shot at selling Single Transferable Vote to the
public to see if it will pass on the second try, ...
Davey's
Politics - http://daveyspolitics.blogspot.com/
EDITORIAL: say yes to MMP
By Spacing
But we are not shy about our support for the Mixed-Member Proportional
system proposed by the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral
Reform. In recent years, urban concerns have not been well represented
at Queen's Park. ...
Spacing Toronto • understanding... - http://spacing.ca/wire
Choose Change Tomorrow
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
Most voters know little about why the Citizens' Assembly
recommended they adopt the new system. Elections Ontario's campaign has
done little more than inform voters we are having a referendum on
electoral reform. ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
Three
Reasons Why Ontario Needs a New Voting System 1. Too little ...
By Matthew Rae(Matthew Rae)
MMP is recommended by the independent Ontario Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform, a body of 103 randomly chosen voters
who studied and deliberated for eight months on the best voting system
for Ontario. 10. Old guard doesn't like it ...
Vote for MMP -
Ottawa - http://mmpottawa.blogspot.com/
10/9/07
From
Yellowknife to Toronto
By Jim
Following BC's lead, Ontario's elected officials turned to a nonpartisan
Citizens' Assembly to study the issue of electoral reform
and make a recommendation. Member of this assembly were randomly
chosen from the voter's lists in their ...
Drink-soaked
Trotskyite Popinjays... - http://drinksoakedtrotsforwar.com/
Liberal MPP Lorenzo Berardinetti supports new voting system
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
Berardinetti is now the eleventh Ontario Liberal candidate to publicly
endorse the Citizens' Assembly's recommendation for
change, joining incumbents Michael Bryant, John Gerretsen, George
Smitherman, Ted McMeekin, Shafiq Qaadri and ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
10/8/07
Mixed
Member Proportional
By Don Spencer(Don Spencer)
The clear advantage of the mixed member proportional scheme recommended
by the Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform is this: all our
votes for political parties will count, not just the ones for the party
representative with the ...
Don Spencer's Artifacts - http://rtfax.blogspot.com/
Get
Out and Vote!
By sean at tobor68 dot com(sean at tobor68 dot com)
MMP is recommended by the independent Ontario Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform, a body of 103 randomly chosen voters
who studied and deliberated for eight months on the best voting system
for Ontario. 10. Old guard doesn't like it ...
The Escape
Feed - http://tobor68.com/blog/index.html
Against All Odds: Winning Electoral Reform in Ontario
By Dissidence(Dissidence)
Finally, in 2006, the government established a citizen body to
examine the question and make recommendations. The Ontario Citizens'
Assembly (OCA) was modeled after a similar process in BC and they
came to similar conclusions -- the ...
The Daily
Dissidence - http://thedailydissidence.blogspot.com/
10/7/07
Don't
Believe The Type
By Chris Tindal
Torontoist - http://torontoist.com/
MMP -
No et Non
By Garry J. Wise, Wise Law Office, Toronto(Garry J. Wise, Wise
Law Office, Toronto)
The alternative electoral system proposed by the Citizens'
Assembly (Mixed Member Proportional)/L'autre système électoral
proposé par l'Assemblée des citoyens (système de représentation
proportionnelle mixte) ...
Wise Law Blog -
http://wiselaw.blogspot.com/
Ten
Reasons to Vote for Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) in the ...
By melaniemullen
MMP is recommended by the independent Ontario Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform, a body of 103 randomly chosen voters
who studied and deliberated for eight months on the best voting system
for Ontario. 10. Old guard doesn't like it ...
Vote Green! -
http://melaniemullen.wordpress.com
10/6/07
If we
don't improve democracy now, when will we get another chance?
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
In Ontario, the Citizens' Assembly was a group of 103
ordinary Ontarians selected at random by Elections Ontario (one person
from every riding in Ontario, plus chair George Thomson.) They were
asked to take a very close look at our ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
Referendum
The government spent millions of our dollars on a Citizens Assembly
on Electoral Reform. Purportedly, the members of the Citizens
Assembly were chosen randomly but no one can establish which
database or what information was used to ...
Freddie P - http://www.freddiep.ca/
Those
Status Quo Folks Are Hilarious
By Chris Tindal
Yeah, um, do you think that might have something to do with the fact
that you guys blocked the distribution of materials from the Citizens'
Assembly explaining what they're proposing and why? Think it
might have something to do with the ...
Chris Tindal - http://www.christindal.ca
10/5/07
Yes
Side Best Campaign, But Should Have Stayed On Point
By Mixed Member Proportional(Mixed Member Proportional)
The "yes" side has issued a press release that, in part, states,
"Elections Ontario's information campaign does not adequately inform
voters why the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral
Reform - after eight months of work ...
Mixed Member
Proportional - http://ontariommp.blogspot.com/
NEWS
RELEASE: Bi-partisan campaign to ask Ontario voters to choose ...
By Jim(Jim)
Although the Citizens' Assembly recommended leaving it up
to individual parties to decide how to nominate their province-wide
candidates, all four major parties have already committed to choosing
their list candidates in a democratic ...
Conservatives
for MMP - http://conservativesformmp.blogspot.com/
Thursday Round-up
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
Halton Liberal MP (and former Progressive Conservative) Garth Turner has
endorsed the Citizens' Assembly's recommendation for
change on his blog. Vote For MMP has launched radio ads across the
province. Listen out for them. ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
10/4/07
Ontario's Referendum: It's Time to Bake the Cake
By Mez
Lastly, the government should immediately reverse its recent decision to
stop printing copies of the Citizens Assembly's materials, which
have somehow been deemed as inappropriate "advocacy tools." The
Assembly spent eight months ...
Spacing Votes • blogging Ontario's... - http://spacing.ca/votes
Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform got it right: Ontario ...
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
3 /CNW/ - Today, the VoteForMMP.ca campaign and several prominent
Ontarians from differing political backgrounds backed a Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform call to Ontarians to take charge of
their own learning process for the ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
The
Rural Minority and MMP.
By Rural(Shane D Jolley)
Firstly if you are not sure what MMP is or need more information check
out my previous post here which contains several links to further
information and this link to the Citizens Assembly final
recommendations. ...
Saugeen Community Blog -
http://saugblog.blogspot.com/
10/3/07
Ontario Liberal Party commits to choose province-wide list ...
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
This is great news as it absolutely dispels the notion that parties will
use their province-wide lists to appoint party hacks, backroom cronies
and bagmen, as alleged by opponents of the Citizens'
Assembly's recommendation for change, ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
10/1/07
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: The new system will give Ontario 22 more ...
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
This makes Ontarians the most under-represented citizens in
Canada by far. Under the new model proposed by the Ontario Citizens'
Assembly, the total number of members will rise to 129. That will
be one Member for about every 95000 ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
The
"Great" Referendum Debate
By Stephanie Jones
Disclosure: I served as the member from Niagara Centre on the
Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform and voted to recommend
the change to MMP. Wish I could report that last Friday evening's
staging at the MaRS Centre of the Great ...
Your Agenda:
Campaign Tales - http://campaigntales.wordpress.com
Appointed List Candidates Still Dogs Yes Side
By Mixed Member Proportional(Mixed Member Proportional)
"The Citizens' Assembly did not recommend that any MPPs be
appointed, nor is that the practice in other democracies which use MMP,"
said Anderson. "It is misleading and unacceptable to characterize that
as part of the MMP proposal." ...
Mixed Member
Proportional - http://ontariommp.blogspot.com/
A
tremendously important article providing a philosophical ...
By rkorus
"The new MMP system recommended by Ontario's Citizens Assembly
reverses this profoundly undemocratic imbalance between a handful of
'super voters' and all the rest of us," said Rick Anderson, campaign
chair of Vote For MMP (www. ...
Vote Green.
Pass It On. - http://votegreenpassiton.wordpress.com
9/30/07
I've
cancelled by subscription to the Toronto Star because of its ...
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
I've been disgusted by the Toronto Star's unfair, biased coverage of the
Citizens' Assembly referendum for weeks. You've
misinformed your readers by frequently referring to new province-wide
MPPs under the new system as "appointed" or ...
Queer-Liberal
- http://queer-liberal.blogspot.com/
Vote
for MMP: Conceptualizing electoral reform
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
The Mixed Member Proportional representation model proposed by the
Citizens' Assembly achieves both goals. It maintains local
representation while achieving proportionality, so that the percentage
of votes each party receives is more ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
9/29/07
Twelve reasons to vote for MMP
By Skinny Dipper(Skinny Dipper)
The recommendation came from the independent Ontario Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform, a body composed of 103 regular voters
who studied, consulted and deliberated for eight months on the best
voting system for Ontario voters. ...
The Skinny -
http://skinnydips.blogspot.com/
The
Truth About FPTP - Representation
By Jim(Jim)
Under FPTP, on average, there is one 1 MPP for every 118061 citizens
based upon the 2006 Census data (Ontario population, 12160282). Under
the MMP model proposed by the Ontario Citizens' Assembly,
the total number of members would rise ...
Conservatives
for MMP - http://conservativesformmp.blogspot.com/
The
Great Debate: Toronto Edition - Part 1
By Mark Fox
George Thomson initially spoke on the selection of the Ontario
Citizens' Assembly and the depth of study of the various
alternative systems they looked at. He agreed with a common theme
throughout the evening, too few people knew about ...
Ontario
Election Reform - http://ontarioelectionreform.wordpress.com
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
The Citizens' Assembly was a group of 103
randomly-selected citizens from the Permanent Register of
Electors for Ontario - one from each of Ontario's electoral districts.
With the Chair, George Thomson, 52 of the members were male and ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
Why I
Support Mixed Member Proportional Part 3: The System that is ...
A variant of the Mixed Member Proportional system that was briefly
considered but dropped by the Citizens Assembly is known as
Regional Open. Like the Provincial Closed model, Regional Open reduces
the number of ridings across the ...
Bow. James Bow. - http://www.bowjamesbow.ca/
9/28/07
Why I
Support Mixed Member Proportional Part 2: The System on the ...
I happened to meet a member of the Citizens Assembly on Electoral
Reform this past month, while in training for the Campaign Tales
website. She'sa young woman from Ottawa in her mid twenties, just out of
University, and not particularly ...
Bow. James Bow. - http://www.bowjamesbow.ca/
Don't
vote for MMP because it can't stop another Mike Harris?!
By Dan(Dan)
Odd that the 103 people chosen for the citizens assembly that
proposed this change were all alike in their fear of Mike Harris.
Urquhart goes on to compare us to New Zealand:. "Take New Zealand, for
example. It used to have an electoral ...
More
Notes From Underground - http://morenotesfromunderground.blogspot.com/
TVO
outdoes itself: Great debate on The Agenda with Steve Paikin ...
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
TVO has also set up an excellent website page aptly titled the, "Citizens'
Assembly Referendum". It contains a nicely produced animation
explaining the proposed voting system, and other great videos on the
Citizens' Assembly process. ...
Liberals For MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
9/27/07
Friday Night Fight Over Electoral Reform
By Kevin Plummer
Hosted by Thomas Axworthy, the evening will also feature introductory
remarks from George Thomson, Chair of the Citizens' Assembly
on Electoral Reform that first proposed the MMP reforms last spring. The
debate offers the perfect chance ...
Torontoist - http://torontoist.com/
REMINDER: Two big Toronto forums on referendum
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
The National Post's political affairs columnist Andrew Coyne and former
Ontario minister Marilyn Churley will make the case for adopting the new
Mixed Member Proportional electoral system proposed by Ontario's
Citizens' Assembly on ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
Two
excellent letters to the editor on MMP
By rkorus
As a former member of the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on
Electoral Reform, I have followed the Star's coverage of the Assembly
and the upcoming referendum with interest. Why is it that when Star
writers refer to the Assembly members who ...
Vote Green.
Pass It On. - http://votegreenpassiton.wordpress.com
9/26/07
Ontario Repeats BC's Mistakes on Electoral Reform
By Dirk
A Citizens' Assembly was formed and after consultations
and study, it recommended an alternative — the single transferable vote
or STV, a form of proportional representation (PR). There was a
virtually non-existent public education ...
Engaged
Spectator - http://engagedspectator.wordpress.com
Rebuttals of Pro-MMP Inaccurate
By Mixed Member Proportional(Mixed Member Proportional)
The Citizens' Assembly–103 every-day Ontarians chosen at
random from each riding–worked for eight months on our behalf learning,
consulting, and deliberating about all of the world's many electoral
systems, including our current system ...
Mixed Member
Proportional - http://ontariommp.blogspot.com/
Open
Letter to the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party
By Jim(Jim)
This past year, the Ontario Citizens Assembly, a body that had
one member chosen at random from each provincial constituency, has been
studying the issue of electoral reform in the province. After studying
various electoral models and ...
Conservatives
for MMP - http://conservativesformmp.blogspot.com/
Why I
Support Mixed Member Proportional Part 1: The Antiquated ...
By James Bow
During the 2003 election, Dalton McGuinty promised to examine the issue
and, upon forming the government, set up a citizens assembly of
representatives picked from across the province. These average
citizens looked at the options and ...
Bow. James Bow. - http://www.bowjamesbow.ca/
9/25/07
Ontario Repeats BC's Mistakes on Electoral Reform
By Gregory D. Morrow
A Citizens' Assembly was formed and after consultations
and study, it recommended an alternative - the single transferable vote
or STV, a form of proportional representation (PR). There was a
virtually non-existent public (...)
AGORAVOX - The Citizen Media - http://www.agoravox.com/
Appointed Politicians
By Chris Tindal
That's just one of the advantages of MMP, the new voting system proposed
by the Ontario Citizens' Assembly. And, since voters get
two votes (one for the candidate, and one for the party), they're able
to reward or punish parties and ...
Chris Tindal - http://www.christindal.ca
Pro-MMP group calls on John Tory to affirm respect for citizen
...
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
MMP was proposed by the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on
Electoral Reform, an independent body of 103 randomly chosen Ontario
voters. Assembly members were asked by the Ontario Legislature to
(a) determine whether Ontario needs a new ...
Liberals For MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
9/23/07
Shall
I point out
By Greg Staples
And if the Citizens Assembly had chosen an open list system
instead of the closed party list system we could always have had this
joy. That is why, if Ontario decides to go with MMP, the first thing I
will do is starting working to get ...
Political
Staples - http://www.politicalstaples.com/
Sorry
about this, but you have to explain this to me
By Dianne(Dianne)
This change is seriously deceptive, because in the rest of the article
she goes on to criticize an alternative system WHICH IS NOT WHAT IS
PROPOSED IN ONTARIO BY THE CITIZENS' ASSEMBLY
(demonstration below). ...
Family
Matters - http://familymatterswithdianne.blogspot.com/
9/22/07
Flummoxed about MMP?
By ken(ken)
National Post political affairs columnist Andrew Coyne and former
Ontario minister Marilyn Churley will make the case for adopting the new
Mixed Member Proportional electoral system proposed by Ontario's
Citizens' Assembly on Electoral ...
KenonCanpolitics -
http://kencan7.blogspot.com/
9/21/07
Natural Experiments
By Gauntlet(Gauntlet)
That's not to say that the Citizen's Assembly is right, and the
voters wrong. We can't say that because we don't know how good the
information the CA received was. I imagine it was excellent, if they
based the process on the one used in ...
Gauntlet.ca - http://www.gauntlet.ca/
Two
big Toronto forums on referendum next week
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
The National Post's political affairs columnist Andrew Coyne and former
Ontario minister Marilyn Churley will make the case for adopting the new
Mixed Member Proportional electoral system proposed by Ontario's
Citizens' Assembly on ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
Green
Party Hosts Voting Forum
...
and Canadians elect their representatives, will take place at 7 pm
inside the Kin Hut on the fairgrounds. Featured speakers include Janet
Scotland, an electoral reform activist, and Fritz Zens, a member of the
Citizens Assembly.
Westcoaster.ca - http://www.westcoaster.ca/
Critical information on the referendum
By rkorus
After studying electoral systems for seven months, the Citizens
Assembly members voted 92% to recommend to their fellow Ontario
citizens to vote for a mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral
system. The Citizens Assembly members ...
Vote Green.
Pass It On. - http://votegreenpassiton.wordpress.com
9/20/07
Could
the unique Citizens' Assembly process simply start over
...
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
In Ontario, the Citizens' Assembly was a group of 103
ordinary Ontarians selected at random by Elections Ontario (one person
from every riding in Ontario, plus chair George Thomson.) They were
asked to take a very close look at our ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
A
nice article about Frank and the Green Party
By rkorus
(MMP) system proposed by the Liberal government-appointed citizens
assembly on electoral reform. The party has come out strongly in
favour of the proposed system, which would give it representation in the
legislature if it ...
Vote Green.
Pass It On. - http://votegreenpassiton.wordpress.com
Liberal candidates speak favourably of the need for democratic reform
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
Similarly, Oakville Liberal incumbent Kevin Flynn has told many local
residents that he's fond of the process the Citizens' Assembly
undertook in drawing up its proposal now before voters. He says he's
favourable to electoral reform, ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
No
Big Media coverage of MMP referendum
By ken(ken)
Suggesting the Citizens' Assembly could not have had
thoughtful reasons for recommending MMP, he concluded that if there is
no debate or awareness among ordinary citizens, then so be
it--MMP will simply have to fail. ...
KenonCanpolitics -
http://kencan7.blogspot.com/
What
is the Referendum Question?
By Pseudonym(Pseudonym)
"Which electoral system should Ontario use to elect members to the
provincial legislature?" Option 1: The existing electoral
system(First-Past-the-Post). Option 2: The alternate electoral system
proposed by the Citizens Assembly (Mixed ...
Canada, eh? -
http://49th-parallel.blogspot.com/
Notes
from the background report
By Jason Diceman
To get a better understanding of the Ontario Citizens'
Assembly process, I read the Secretariat's exhaustive 280 page
background report "Democracy At Work: The Ontario Citizens'
Assembly on Electoral Reform" (PDF). ...
The Citizens'
Assembly Monument blogs - http://citizensassemblymonument.ca/blog
9/18/07
MMP
on the Web
By David Pal
The final report of the Citizens' Assembly [PDF] is a nice
introductory document that provides some simple projections for how MMP
could affect Ontario, without delving too far into the mathematics and
mechanics of the process. ...
Spacing Votes * blogging Ontario's... - http://spacing.ca/votes
Comment on Referendum could have more impact than the Election by ...
By Ben Burd
I didn't say that I wasn't in favour of it - just the method preferred
by the Citizens assembly, which by the process of selection gave
new meaning to the word random. i favour the STV. If the parties were in
favour of it wouldn't you ...
Comments for
Cobourg Blog - http://cobourginternet.com/wordpress
Establishment comes out swinging in favour of status quo
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
First, we had the quintessential Establishment man, John Tory, lashing
out at the Citizens' Assembly's recommendation for change
last week at the National Post editorial board. The Toronto Star last
week printed the falsehood in a ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
Well,
that clears it all up!
By Andy(Andy)
If at least 60% of all the referendum ballots across the province choose
the alternative system recommended by the Citizens' Assembly
AND 50% of the voters in at least 64 electoral districts vote for Mixed
Member Proportional, ...
I, Ectomorph -
http://iectomorph.blogspot.com/
9/17/07
Rick
Anderson: CBC Newsworld
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
... campaign in Ontario, Rick Anderson, appeared last week on
CBC's Politics. Anderson speaks eloquently about the referendum campaign
and why Ontario voters should choose the Citizens' Assembly's
recommendation for change on October 10th.
Queer-Liberal
- http://queer-liberal.blogspot.com/
Foolish Ontario could muck up country
By styky
A citizen's assembly, mandated to review electoral inequities,
proposed the changes. They recommended the direct vote by every
citizen be nixed in favour of a system where members can also be
elected from party lists. ...
Free
Dominion - Principled Conservati... -
http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/index.php
Single Transferable Vote proposal for BC would be a disaster ...
By Bill Tieleman(Bill Tieleman)
BC voters didn't think enough of STV in the 2005 referendum to give the
required 60 per cent approval to implement this bad idea, suggested by
the Citizens Assembly. Unfortunately, it came close enough that
Premier Gordon Campbell is ...
Bill Tieleman
- http://billtieleman.blogspot.com/
9/16/07
Will
Ontario Liberals vote with John Tory in the referendum?
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
Yesterday, while still claiming to be neutral on the subject, Tory
apparently spent several minutes criticizing the Citizens'
Assembly recommendation for change during an interview with the
National Post's editorial board. ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
9/15/07
Forum
on Your Big Decision
By Chris Tindal
On October 10th Ontarians will vote on a proposal by the Citizens'
Assembly (a randomly-selected group of 103 Ontarians) to switch
to a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system, similar to that used in
some other countries including ...
Torontoist - http://torontoist.com/
Elections Ontario should release unofficial referendum results on ...
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
We continue to see reports like this from Elections Ontario's John
Hollins that Ontarians will have to wait for the results of the October
10th referendum on the Citizens' Assembly recommendation
until October 11th. ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
part2
- Improve Canada's political system
By karly(karly)
After studying electoral systems for seven months, the Citizens
Assembly members voted 92% to recommend to their fellow Ontario
citizens to vote for a mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral
system. The Citizens Assembly members ...
Karly Kitty -
http://karlyguy.livejournal.com/
Canada goes proportional?
By ourkingdom
The referendum was the main outcome of an independent citizens'
assembly on electoral reform set up by the provincial government
last year. The Economist suggests that If the referendum produces a
'yes' vote in Ontario, ...
OurKingdom -
http://ourkingdom.opendemocracy.net
MMP
REFERENDUM
By Jody
In 29 days, voters in Ontario will have a choice to make with regard to
a recommendation made by a panel of average citizens, selected at
random (known as the Citizens Assembly). These folks studied our
current system of selecting ...
Real Talk! -
http://blog.getrealinontario.com/index.php
Campaign officially begins today
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
In addition to electing a new government on October 10th, voters will
also choose between the current First-Past-The-Post voting system and
the new Mixed Member Proportional voting system recommended by the
Ontario Citizens' Assembly ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
Dick's (bizzare?) I-24 and Jefferson's ward republics
By emmettoconnell
Think of the citizen assembly that British Columbia brought
together to reform their election laws or participatory budgeting in
Brazil. I can easily understand how people can perceive even local
governments as being too big or too ...
Washblog - Front Page - http://www.washblog.com/
Referendum fulfils Ontario Liberal promise to put democracy in the
...
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
Dalton McGuinty did the right thing by promising a Citizens'
Assembly to examine the province's electoral system. Now voters have
the opportunity to vote on the Citizen's Assembly recommendation
on October 10th, fulfilling the Liberal ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
Toronto Star fails to correct Monday's "inaccurate" reporting of MMP
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
Another reason why voters know little about the Citizens'
Assembly process and the ongoing referendum could also be that the
government has done little to inform Ontarians on the process from the
start. Now the government has announced ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
MMP
Explained: Q&A with The Planning Desk's Peter MacLeod
By Matt Guerin(Matt Guerin)
What is the Ontario Citizens' Assembly? What are the
advantages of MMP? What are the disadvantages of MMP? What will happen
if the referendum passes? Which is more important under MMP - my party
vote or my vote for a local candidate? ...
Liberals For
MMP - http://liberals4mmp.blogspot.com/
Conservative Senator Endorses MMP
By democraticspace
Today, folks at the Economic Club of Toronto heard one of the most
passionate talks on MMP and why we should endorse the Citizens'
Assembly recommendation. And it was given by a conservative, a
Progressive Conservative -- senator Hugh ...
democraticSPACE.com/blog - http://democraticSPACE.com/blog
Sunday, boring Sunday
By aginsberg(aginsberg)
On that note, the reason we want to bring attention to the use of
Citizens' Assembly literature by the pro-MMP campaign is
because we'd like that kind of government support. We have no problem
with information. ...
All Politics
Is Local - http://localgrit.blogspot.com/
Ontario voters to vote on electoral reform
By ken(ken)
The citizens' assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of a
new "mixed member proportional" system (MMP) that would give every
Ontarian two votes instead of one - one for a local candidate, and
another for a political party. ...
KenonCanpolitics -
http://kencan7.blogspot.com/