Electoral reform commission in Hamilton
December 3, 2006

Hamiltonians will get a chance this week to help guide reform proposals for Ontario’s voting system. The Ontario Citizen’s Assembly on Electoral Reform will receive local input on Wednesday evening as part of a province-wide consultation that is expected to lead to a referendum next fall and a possible switch to a proportional representation system.

The citizen’s assembly is composed of 103 randomly-selected individuals representing each of Ontario’s provincial ridings. It’s been established by the McGuinty government to consider arguments for changing the current first-past-the-post system that critics say fails to reflect the wishes of voters.

Groups such as Fair Vote Canada point to this year’s federal election results where the Bloc Quebecois got 51 seats with only 11 percent of the vote, while the NDP had 18 percent support but only received 29 seats; or the 2004 election where half a million Canadians voted for the Green Party but didn’t elect a single member of parliament, while the same number of voters in Atlantic Canada elected 22 Liberals.

The consultation meeting will take place in the I-Wing of Mohawk College, in room 1-109 starting at 7 pm. Attendees will be asked their views on the principles that should govern Ontario’s electoral system and what changes they support.