The pamphlets came in the door today, but I’m not hearing a lot about this in the media and I find that really really alarming since it’s a huge, important decision facing Ontarians right now and it scares me to think of them voting in the October 2007 election and having no idea what the second ballot means. So I’m taking this to my blog and I urge any Canadian bloggers to do the same.

If you’re a citizen of Ontario and you don’t already know about the upcoming referendum on electoral reform, EDUCATE YOURSELF NOW. In the October election, there will be two ballots. The usual vote for your candidate and a vote for an electoral system. This is what the ballot will say:

Which electoral system should Ontario use to elect members to the provincial legislature?

o The existing electoral system (First-Past-the-Post)

o The alternative electoral system proposed by the Citizens’ Assembly (Mixed Member Proportional)

For those not inspired enough to click the links, here’s a quick summary on our current electoral system (FPTP) and the proposed (MMP).

Right now, Ontario has a one vote system, which means when I vote for my party’s representative in my riding, that vote also goes to the provincial party leader. If the provincial party leader wins the most seats, they generally go on to form a government. But they don’t have to have the majority of votes to win. Also, what if I love the provincial party leader but I loathe the party’s representative in my riding? Or what if I loathe the provincial party leader but I love party’s representative in my riding? I don’t like voting for a candidate I’m not thrilled about simply to keep the opposition out. And because the FPTP system often narrows the field to the two predicted leading parties, I feel like a vote outside of the red and blue spectrum will essentially be wasted, which is also not cool.

Man, smell those choices! Yum!

But with the proposed new electoral system, Mixed Member Proportional (which combines First-Past-the-Post and Proportional Representation), I will have two votes. Two! One for my local representative and one for a political party. Do you know what that means? It means that, in future elections, you and I can affect change on two separate levels: locally and provincially, which is more than we’re able to do now. It means more Canadians have a better chance of actually being represented by a government that’s supposed to be representing them anyway. It also gives us a better foundation than the one we’ve got for the coming generations to have and build upon.

How awesome is that?

Pretty damn awesome.

Your Big Decision.ca is the impartial website with all the information you need about the referendum if you don’t already have it. There you can learn about the old system and the new system and watch videos that can explain this whole thing a whole lot better than I did. Please spread the word and when the time comes: VOTE.

Vote vote vote vote vote.

It’s the most important thing you can do.

Links:
yourbigdecision.ca
citizen’s assembly

edit
Vote for MMP is a really helpful and informative site on the pro-side. It’s incredibly easy to navigate, is direct and straightforward and I was able to use their info to help further explain the positives of Mixed Member Proportional to people who were interested. I suggest everyone check it out!
(Thanks, Mark, for the heads-up!)