MMP & Party Lists

 


I suppose it's to be expected. People who are opposed to the Mixed Member Proportional system are making up stories in order to make it seem as bad as possible.

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the party lists. Here's a brief summary from the Vote for MMP website.

Elections Ontario will publish the selection of candidates that each party has democratically elected before the election.

This information will be widely available in advance, as required by law:

• you'll know who party members selected before you vote for that party
• you'll know whether a party valued having a good balance of women and men
• you'll know whether a party valued having candidates from across the province, from rural and urban regions
• you'll know whether a party valued having candidates who reflected Ontario's diverse population
• you'll be able to decide before you vote whether a party created its list in a fair and democratic way

The important point here is that you will know who's on the list before you vote. You don't have to vote for the party if you don't like the list. Some people seem to think that a defeated candidate can be moved to the list after the votes have been counted and get elected by the back door.

Most people are worried about the party lists. They seem to think that the people on the list will be worthless party hacks. I don't think this is a major concern for two reasons.

1. Local ridings are already nominating worthless party hacks so the situation could hardly get any worse.
2. You won't vote for a party if their list is full of people who shouldn't be in the legislature.