On October 10...
Boost your government’s performance
Vote mixed member proportional
Dear sisters and brothers:
October 10, 2007 is
not just Election Day in Ontario. It’s also our chance to boost the
performance of every Ontario government we elect from now on.
For the first time
ever, Ontarians will vote in a referendum to choose between two different
ways of electing our MPPs. Option 1 is to keep things the way they are now.
Option 2 is to improve the current voting system by upgrading it to a system
called Mixed Member Proportional.
I am not one of
these people who says the way we elect our MPPs now is terrible. That being
said, it does have some pretty big drawbacks, and if we can fix them, we
should. We need a better voting system. Here’s why:
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We need politicians to work
together. When I have a choice between negotiation and confrontation, I
pick negotiation every time. Mixed Member Proportional will re-balance
the Legislature. It will make politicians listen more, negotiate more,
and cooperate more. That can only be good.
-
We need new ideas in politics.
Today we’re facing new problems we need to solve (like global warming)
and old problems we haven’t solved (like child poverty). I think we need
to give folks like the Green Party a voice, and I think we need more
women MPPs. According to polls, close to 90 per cent of Ontarians want
to see more women in our Legislature, and why not? Based on results in
other countries, upgrading our voting system is a quick and easy way to
make it happen.
-
The number of seats a party
gets at Queen’s Park should be closely tied to the number of votes it
gets on Election Day. In the 1995 election, the Mike Harris Tories got
45 per cent of the votes but 66 per cent of the seats. The opposition
got 55 per cent of the votes but 34 per cent of the seats. Our voting
system gave the Tories absolute power, and they used that power to
ignore opposition voices and slash public services at will. I believe
that upgrading our voting system will reduce these extreme swings and
help create a stable, long-term foundation for the public services we
deliver.
The proposed Mixed
Member Proportional system addresses all the issues listed above while
keeping strong democratic representation at the community level. It will be
a big improvement.
On Oct. 10, help
boost your government’s performance. Vote for Mixed Member Proportional.
In solidarity,
Warren (Smokey) Thomas
President
P.S. To find out more about the
Oct. 10 referendum, visit www.yourbigdecision.ca ,
www.voteformmp.ca , or
www.equalvoice.ca .
