Ontario Votes: Pros and cons of MMP
Thursday, October 4th, 2007
The following column is by Robert Benzie, Queen’s Park Bureau Chief
What is MMP?
MMP or mixed-member proportional representation is a political system used in places like New Zealand and Germany, where voters cast a two-part ballot, selecting both a preferred local candidate and a political party.
In Ontario’s version, voters would choose “local” MPPs in the traditional way in 90 newly created, larger ridings instead of the existing 107 constituencies. With their vote for the party of their choice on the second part of the ballot, they would also select an additional 39 MPPs from lists of candidates compiled by the parties.
These “list” MPPs would be elected based on their parties’ popular vote, to top up a party’s tally of “local” MPPs and more accurately reflect results across the province. The Legislature would be expanded to 129 MPPs to accommodate the changes.
What are the advantages of MMP?
Smaller parties like the Greens, the Family Coalition, and the Freedom Party would have a chance at winning seats in the Legislature even if they cannot win a riding outright. Any party that wins at least 3 per cent of the popular vote will be awarded “list” seats. It would mean the end of majority governments when a party has won less than half the vote and prevent scenarios like former NDP premier Bob Rae’s landslide victory in 1990 with 37.6 per cent of the vote.
What are the disadvantages of MMP?
Critics charge the 39 “list” MPPs would not be directly elected and the parties could use the lists as a sort of Senate to reward party apparatchiks, financial donors or others. As well, it would likely spell the end of decisive, majority governments since no party has won 50 per cent or more of the popular vote since 1937.
What is “first-past-the-post”?
First-past-the-post, or FPTP, is the current method of electing MPPs and is how Canadians have traditionally chosen federal and provincial representatives. It is a winner-take-all system, where the candidate with the most votes wins a riding. The political party that wins the most electoral districts forms the government.
What are the advantages of FPTP?
Simplicity and familiarity. The system is in use in countries around the world, including Britain and Australia and has served Ontario and Canada for generations.
What are the disadvantages of FPTP?
The winner-take-all nature of it means that the majority’s voting intent may not be honoured. In recent history, most Ontario voters did not want Dalton McGuinty, Mike Harris or Bob Rae as premier, yet all three were elected with majority governments. It also means the ballots of dissenting voters in ridings won by the Liberals, Tories, or New Democrats are meaningless province-wide. In theory, a party could win all 103 seats by winning every riding with a little over one-third of the vote.
Who selected MMP as the alternative to FPTP?
The new system was proposed by the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, a group of 104 people – 103 selected to represent every riding and George Thomson, a former judge and senior civil servant, who chaired the panel – which prepared a report for the government after holding public hearings.
How do I vote in the referendum?
There will be a separate referendum ballot that can be cast when you submit your election ballot. Both ballots will go in the same box.
What does it take for the referendum to pass?
The proposal must be approved by a “super majority” of 60 per cent of the votes cast across Ontario and by at least 50 per cent of the voters in 64 of the 107 ridings.
If passed, when would the new system take effect?
It would be in place for the next provincial election scheduled for 2011. However, if there is a minority government, the next election could come as early as 2008.
On a mixed-member proportional representation ballot, voters are asked to make two marks: one for a party (on the left) and one for a local candidate (on the right). The local candiate with the most votes is elected as with the current system, but additional seats are apportioned based on the party vote. This is a sample only - Elections Ontario would design its own if MMP is approved.
Your questions:
Could a candidate run in a riding, be defeated overwhelmingly by the voters, but be appointed by the party to represent them regardless via the “list” route? Would the “list” candidates be elected by the party membership as a whole rather than selected by a committee party insider group whose reasons for “list” inclusion might be suspect?
Russell G. Wilkinson,
Creemore, Ont.
Queen’s Park Bureau Chief Robert Benzie replies:
Yes. For example, each party is almost certain to have its leader at the top of its list. Senior government cabinet ministers and top party veterans or star candidates would also be atop a party’s list because these would be the MPPs the party most wants to elect. While not every party would qualify for a list seat – the party that wins the most directly elected seats of the 90 up for grabs may not even get one of the 39 appointed seats because their popular vote tally might not be high enough – parties would be shrewd to use their lists as a safety net for their leader.
Are the list members selected by the parties chosen in a predetermined order? Do the parties publish a list of ranked individuals they will choose depending on the number of list members they can chose?
Robert Taylor,
Toronto
Yes and yes.
I have read a lot about the MMP but can’t get a clear answer about how the “list” candidates will be chosen.
Patricia Beurteaux,
Elliot Lake
Thirty-nine members to be chosen from the “list” provided by each party. Will these members be chosen from the party faithful who are owed favours, or will they have to be nominated and campaign for the opportunity to be shoehorned into the legislature?
Rob Jackson,
Beamsville
How each party selects its list remains to be seen. Even in the current system, the parties have different nominating systems: Premier Dalton McGuinty is allowed to appoint five candidates of the Liberals’ 107 without any competitive nomination process, while Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory’s party doesn’t allow for any appointed candidates. How each party selects its list candidates would likely up to the party: Some may opt for an open, all-party vote, while others may just have party insiders choose the list.
Since there will now be 129 members in the legislature instead of 107, can I assume that the new system will cost me (the taxpayer) approximately 20 per cent more than the old?
Andre Cyr,
Belleville
Yes, having 129 MPPs will definitely cost more than having just 107. However, it’s worth noting that we used to have 130 before then-premier Mike Harris trimmed the number to 103 (to match the boundaries of Ontario’s federal ridings) for the 1999 election.
How will the riding boundaries change if the new system is put in place and who will decide this?
Jo Rogge,
Parry Sound
Any changes to riding boundaries would be determined by Elections Ontario, a non-partisan agency of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario that works under the direction of the province’s chief electoral officer.
What would these list candidates do day to day? Traditionally, MPPs have constituent duties that these list MPPs would not have. How would they earn their salaries?
Elizabeth Sloan, Ajax
List MPPs would be considered “at large” representatives, and would have legislative obligations on committees.
Do both the candidate vote and the party vote count towards tallying the percentage of the popular vote that parties receive in order to determine how many of the 39 filler seats they are given? In other words, if 1,000 ballots are filled out with both votes on each ballot, is the popular vote determined by 1,000 or 2,000 votes?
Adam Roberts, Ottawa
List seats are based on the total number of votes for both individual candidates and parties. So, using this example, all 2,000 votes would be counted in the calculation.
What will the total cost be to implement an MMP system if it is approved in the upcoming referendum?
Karen Golec, Pickle Lake, Ont.
No such figure has been published. However, it seems fair to assume that the ongoing cost for MPPs would be at least 20 per cent higher, because the number of MPPs would rise roughly 20 per cent (to 129 from the current 107).
