The absence of PR in Ontario worked real good for Dalton McGuinty yesterday.
I’m revamping a comment from 2008, made in response to a call at the time from Jim in support of PR, and in the light of numbers from yesterday’s election if anyone should be screaming blue murder about the unfairness of “first past the post”, it’s Ontario PCs scoring 2% less than the Liberals but garnering sixteen seats less.
If the PR poll had gone the other way in the last election, Liberals would likely be in opposition today. And the Greens would have a foot in the door.
Still worth considering another poll to consult Ontarians, but not if you leave its design up to Dagwood Dalton, not that any other leader would be different.
My criticism back then which hasn’t changed, was the prospect of a loyalist and/or bumkisser making the short trip from downtown party HQ to a new career in Parliament without the say-so of electors.
Firstly, if additional “list” members are to be added to compensate for under-
representation, why not let electors choose the riding list-candidates, which could be done at the same time as voting?
Aren’t we smart enough?
Secondly, would these faceless party-loyalists retain their list-envy if it involved redeployment from party HQ in Ottawa or Toronto to outlying and underserved parts of the province/country, to help out their exhausted partners?
In the bigger picture…….proportional representation?
Shouldn’t we be far more concerned with declining voter turnout and our blind willingness to let power slip upwards to the halls of Toronto and Ottawa?
We need their authority and expertise sometimes, but most of our concerns could be addressed right here at home IF we had in our municipalities the authority and funds.
MMP isn’t going to change any of that, and as soon as McGuinty’s designed-to-fail proposal was out of the gate a few years back, I smelt the rat.
Antonius writes that we should be more concerned about the low voter turnout than PR..
Maybe if we changed to a PR system more people would vote.
Voter-turnout continues to be my major concern about democracy. I’ve always admired countries which make turning up at the polling-station mandatory, at which point you can if you wish spoil your ballot in any number of creative ways.
My MMP proposal could well help the dismal turnout by giving voters an extra kick at the can, one for MP and one for list.
When the numbers are all in and the disparity established, list-candidates would be selected from ridings most adversely affected by “first past the post”.
These members would be the choice of the people, not party HQ.
How the List-members are then deployed would be up to the party, I’m ok with that.
“”of the people, for the people, by the people…”
I freely admit to a visceral dislike for kiss-up/kick-down head-office attitudes. Anyone who has worked for a juggernaut will know exactly what I mean.