Consider alternative

Claire Hoy would have us believe that minority activists "foisted" the mixed-member proportional system on us, and accuses those of us who would vote for such a system as being dumb. In addition to being wrong, this is a great insult to Citizens' Assembly process and the people of Ontario.

Over half of the 986 public submissions received by the OCA recommended some kind of proportional voting system, and MMP was by far the most popular recommendation. Why is MMP so popular? Because it is a far more democratic system than what we have now, and it would give almost every Ontario voter genuine influence in who forms government. That is a lot more than can be said for our current system, which effectively ignores half the ballots that we cast in elections now.

The Citizens' Assembly was fully aware that party list members would be nominated by the government. They also knew that any temptation to select list members in back rooms would wither under public scrutiny, which is why they force parties to disclose their list selection processes transparently. Political parties in other countries that use MMP don't select their list members in "back rooms;" it won't happen in Ontario either.

Even as he criticizes the number of politicians that would be elected under MMP (a whopping 129!), Hoy would have us adopt a two-round voting system, which requires us to run two elections, polarizes the electorate, and is by far the most expensive voting system the OCA considered.

Hoy makes one good point: we do need a lot more public education around our voting system. Learning more about the two voting systems up for consideration this October is a great way to start.

Paul Nijjar

Kitchener