Last week, the PEI legislature voted to convene a citizens’ assembly to deliberate on the future of the province’s electoral system. Brought forward by Green Party MLA Stephen Howard, the motion passed 13-11 with support from Greens, Liberals, and even several Conservative ministers. The citizens’ assembly will bring together 27 individuals of diverse age groups, socioeconomic statuses, ethnicities and genders to learn, deliberate and ultimately produce a detailed design of the best electoral system for PEI.
We don’t yet know what will come after the assembly: perhaps a referendum, like those which took place following Ontario and BC’s citizens’ assemblies for electoral reform; or maybe the legislature will simply put the assembly recommendation to a vote. Regardless, this is an excellent step in the right direction: removing politicians from the process of deciding on the best electoral system, and putting a diverse group of citizens in charge. When politicians are in charge, there’s too much room for them to prioritize their own electoral priorities and party’s future.
Ontario’s Liberal Party leader Steven Del Duca could learn a lot from PEI’s approach. In mid-October, Del Duca announced his commitment to adopt ranked ballots as the new electoral system for Ontario. This echoes the Prime Minister’s own preference for ranked ballots, creating a theme of Liberal preference for the system. This isn’t surprising, according to some analysis: as the ideologically “central” party, the Liberals would likely benefit from second-choice votes from voters on both the left and right. This could skew the vote-to-seat ratio even worse than it already is under first past the post, enabling centre parties like the Liberals to secure majority governments with even fewer votes than they require in our flawed current system.
In the same announcement, Del Duca also announced he would convene a citizens’ assembly “empowered to review further changes to electoral systems and make recommendations to an all-party committee for action.” But what good will a citizens’ assembly be when he’s already committed to implementing the system he prefers?
Like the citizens of PEI, Ontarians ought to have the opportunity to work together to decide on the best system for all of us. We deserve better than a politician picking the best system for himself – we deserve the best system for all of us, as voters, and as citizens in a democracy.
Tweet your support of a Citizens’ Assembly to Singh and Trudeau!
Reports are coming in that the NDP are negotiating a deal with Trudeau to support his government for three years in exchange for action on crucial issues. We need to make sure this deal includes a next step towards a National Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform!
Join our campaign by tweeting Jagmeet Singh and Justin Trudeau demanding an #ElectoralReform Citizens’ Assembly now!
Tell the Ontario NDP and Greens to show leadership on electoral reform!
Send a message to Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, Ontario NDP Democratic Reform Critic Peggy Sattler, and Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner asking them to say NO to winner-take-all ranked ballots and to show leadership on electoral reform!
Click here to send your letter
Volunteer with Fair Vote Ontario
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We are also looking for leaders to step up and join the local Action Team here in Toronto! New members must be part of our FVT Slack platform for at least two months before joining the leadership team. To join our Slack please click here.
Electoral Reform in the News
Proportional Representation continues to make the news as more Canadians wake up to the sorry state of our democracy. Here is a sample of what is being said:
As COP26 in Glasgow wraps-up, Canada has been busy discussing with other nations how it can do its part to reduce emissions.
A good place to start would be Proportional Representation, as the evidence is clear that countries with this system are leading the charge on serious climate action while Canada and its First Past the Post system languishes.
This was reaffirmed in the recent Climate Change Performance Index which showed the top 5 performing countries use Proportional systems while Canada was ranked fourth from the bottom.