[fvc-wat-disc] Letter: FPTP is bad medicine (fwd)

[Paul Nijjar]

 	This is the letter I sent. If I get my act together it may be 
worth writing a line-by-line refutation of this misguided editorial.
- Paul

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2007 15:49:51 +0000 (UTC)
From: Paul Nijjar <pnijjar at sdf.lonestar.org>
To: lettertoed at thestar.ca
Subject: Letter: FPTP is bad medicine



In its Feb 23 editorial "Electoral Reform: Bad Electoral Medicine", the Star 
editors would have us believe that "while not perfect" first-past-the-post, 
"has served us well". A quick look at Ontario's election results quickly 
dispels this falsehood.

Just consider the 1985 Ontario election: the Liberals received 37.9%
of the vote and 38.4% of the seats, while the rival Progressive
Conservatives received four more seats despite earning less (37.0%) of
the vote. Two elections later, the 1990 NDP earned 37.6% of the vote
-- a smaller share than the 1985 Liberals -- but ended up with
56.7% of the seats and a majority government. This is gambling, not
democracy. Under first-past-the-post, riding boundaries
influence election winners more than votes themselves.
First-past-the-post is blatantly undemocratic, and leagues away from
"serving us well" unless we care more about strong majorities than we
do about listening to voters.

We can do better. Proportional representation is the way. The
editorial suggests that we "need look no further than Israel and
Italy" to conclude that under proportional representation
Ontario will be plagued by unstable coalitions and legislative chaos.
If that was the case, why do New Zealand and Germany (not
to mention Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, and dozens of other
countries) enjoy strong, effective coalition governments using
proportional systems? The cases of Italy and Israel are well known,
and modern proportional voting systems are designed to avoid the
problems those countries face. Ontarians have little to fear, and
a lot to gain.

The editorial gets one thing right: electoral reform is not a
"cure-all". But electoral reform is one important step to
getting Ontario fairer elections and better governments. We can only hope
that voters will seize the opportunity to vote for improvement this
October.

Paul Nijjar
508 Duke St W, Kitchener, Ontario
Voice mail: 519.749.0720 x487
(I have no phone)