About Mixed Member Proportional (MMP)

In 2005, the Ontario legislature established an all-party committee to study electoral systems. The committee made recommendations regarding the Citizens' Assembly and the referendum. In March 2006, the government filed a regulation providing for Elections Ontario to select one citizen at random from each of Ontario's 103 electoral districts to form the Citizens' Assembly. This group was asked to study all the election systems and decide which would be best suited for Ontario. The Citizens' Assembly concluded that Mixed-Member Proportional was best for Ontario and recommended that we switch to the new system.

The proposed Mixed-Member Proportional system is a hybrid of our current system (FPTP) and proportional representation. With Proportional Representation, the basic idea is, the number of seats a party gets should be proportional to the number of votes a party gets. Proportional Representation is, by the way, the most common voting method found around the world.

The way it would work in Ontario is this. The province would be divided into 90 ridings and MPPs would be elected into those ridings as they are now. So you would still be directly electing an individual to represent you in your riding. However, on your ballot you will also be asked to vote for a political party. 39 "list" seats are reserved and awarded to parties based on the popular vote. If a party receives a higher percentage of the popular vote than they won local seats, they will be awarded extra list seats to compensate. The end result will be that all political parties will have a number of seats more or less representative of the number of votes they received.

Every vote is counted, and every vote is important. Isn't that what democracy is all about?

Are there any downsides? Well, some people might say that the Mixed Member Proportional system would only result in more minority governments. While this might be true, it isn't a problem in New Zealand or anywhere else that has adopted the system. Besides, if you don't think your party could effectively work in a coalition, maybe you should consider supporting another party?

Other countries using a similar system have seen some other benefits:

An increased voter turnout, every vote counts even if there is a shoe in in your riding or your preferred candidate doesn't have a chance. Your vote still has an effect on the overall result.

Women and minorities tend to be better represented.

Parties and parliament are more diverse and representative of the population.

Next... What is so bad about our current system?