[fvc-wat-disc] New Hamburg Independent Response

[Paul Nijjar]

Earlier I pointed to a column by Paul Knowles that was pretty
negative. Here's a good response by OCA member Bill Ritz, published
in the New Hamburg Independent. 

http://www.newhamburgindependent.ca/nhi/viewpoint/viewpoint_875655.html


MMP a democratic choice

(Sep 12, 2007)
My sincere thanks to Paul Knowles for his column focusing the
readers' attention on electoral reform.

His Dutch MP airplane seat-mate may have mislead him somewhat.
Holland uses an electoral system called List PR. That system is very
different from the Mixed Member Proportional system proposed for
Ontario.

In Holland, all 150 members of the Tweed Kamer are elected on the
basis of the national distribution of party votes.

The Dutch vote only for the party of their choice and, from the
proportion of votes cast for any given party, representatives are
selected (from the party lists) in numbers to mirror the proportion
of party votes received.

Their system is considered one of the most effective in ensuring that
every vote counts. Holland is a democracy. Its Parliamentary Members
are democratically elected (despite Mr. Knowles' opinion to the
contrary) but in a way that is new to Ontarians.

Here in Ontario our Mixed Member Proportional system would still use
the good old "First-Past- The-Post" method we have always used in
order to elect 90 members of the Provincial Parliament.

Additionally, however, we would elect another group of 39 members on
the second part of our ballots by voting for the political party of
our preference. We will know who is on each party's lists because
they must publish ahead of time who is on them.

An additional requirement is placed on party list-makers: the process
used must be transparent (we will know how/why those people were
selected).

So if a voter doesn 't like either the people on that list or how
they came to be there, he or she may vote for someone else's list -
thus effectively punishing a party for its lack of political
astuteness.

Parties not showing gender, ethnic and regional balance on those
lists will not gain the favour of today's voters and will lose party
seat representation.

In my opinion, all of Ontario's political party caucuses have enough
smarts to make those list members they elect exceptionally useful.

Any riding whose elected representative is not doing his or her job
will get special attention from opposing parties' list
representatives. Just as free enterprise encourages competition and a
resulting elevation of service and quality, so too will competition
within ridings and geographical areas result in an elevated level of
representation. Mr. Knowles expressed a concern for "never ending
minority governments leading to never-ending gridlock".

Under our current system, 1937 was the last time a federal party was
elected in Canada with a true majority. Parties and politicians who
boast about having a "mandate from the people" are just simply wrong.

More people voted against them than those who voted for them. In my
book that's not at all democratic. Seventy years of minority
governments - yet somehow we've muddled through.

One alarming (to me) happenstance under First-Past- The-Post occurred
in the June 2004 federal election.

The NDP received far more votes than did the Bloc Quebecois.

The Bloc, however, gained nearly three times as many seats and hold
the balance of power.

A party dedicated to breaking up our nation won enough local seats to
form the "Loyal Opposition".

The tendency of governments in Mixed Member systems worldwide is to
assemble a coalition of like-minded parties to form a real majority
government.

If anything, they appear to be more effective and co-operative in
doing the business of governing than the current petty bickering and
finger-pointing we see in both the Provincial Legislature and the
House of Commons.

The Law Commission of Canada disagrees with Mr. Knowles' position.

After a two-year study and public consultation on federal voting
system reform the Commission' s final report, tabled in the House of
Commons in March, 2002, called for a mixed proportional system.

The Commission recommended that two-thirds of the seats be held by
riding representatives while the other third be filled from party
lists.

Finally, I want to implore readers to actively seek information so
that they can make an informed choice with respect to the referendum
in the upcoming election.

Those with access to the Internet should go to
www.yourbigdecision.com.

That website is run by Elections Ontario and presents both
alternatives rationally and without bias. Groups campaigning for and
against the proposed new system will become more active in September
so before long the voters will have ample opportunity for
enlightenment.

Meanwhile, please have a look at some of my favourite websites:

www.equalvoiceinpolitics.ca (electoral reform for women) www.
voteformmp.ca www .fairvotecanada.org.

Thanks for this opportunity to be heard.

Bill Ritz

Former Ontario Citizen's

Assembly member from

Waterloo-Wellington


- Paul



--
Paul Nijjar  http://www.fairvotecanada.org/WaterlooRegion
Next Referendum Info Session: Sept 18, 7pm
(Please use this Yahoo! account for future correspondence.)


      Be smarter than spam. See how smart SpamGuard is at giving junk email the boot with the All-new Yahoo! Mail at http://mrd.mail.yahoo.com/try_beta?.intl=ca