The earnest proponents of electoral reform over at Liberals For MMP were up in arms this week because The Toronto Star had referred to the 39 new MPPs who would be added to the Ontario Legislature under the proposal for Mixed Member Proportional representation were referred to as “appointees”. The Libs for MMP accused the Star of spreading lies and demanding retractions, threatening complaints to the Ontario Press Council amidst their litany of complaints. It’s pretty obvious they know it will be a pretty hard sell to convince Ontarians to accept adding 39 un-elected MPPs to the legislature.
Spreading their own misinformation, Liberal for MMP equate voting for a political party with voting for an individual and falsely argue the 39 new MPPs would be elected. They also ignore the fact that the candidates from the MMP provincial party lists most likely to end up in the legislature will be the ones whose parties received relatively few votes compared to the parties which will form the government and official opposition. Put another way, the less popular your party is with Ontario voters, the more likely you are to be rewarded with one of the 39 new seats in the legislature.
Now Liberals for MMP have a new target. PC party leader John Tory used the “appointed” word in an interview with the National Post’s editorial board. Tory is quoted as saying he is wary of MMP because some MPPs would be “appointed by party bosses and accountable to no constituents”. Tory goes on to state he hasn’t encountered any voters who want more politicians in the legislature “or anywhere else”.
Liberals for MMP and I probably agree we don’t want to see John Tory become Ontario’s next premier. But on MMP, Tory clearly shows he understands the issue and the importance of local MPPs accountable to their electors. As one of the party leaders who would have to deal with creating a provincial list of party candidates, he admits he hasn’t given the potential process any thought. Probably the other party leaders haven’t either. But the proponents of MMP would have us believe some sort of nirvana will emerge in which all personal and political interests will be miraculously united in a utopian legislature where partisanship will be replaced by consensus building guaranteeing the public interest.
Thanks, John Tory for going on record with the truth.
Spreading their own misinformation, Liberal for MMP equate voting for a political party with voting for an individual and falsely argue the 39 new MPPs would be elected. They also ignore the fact that the candidates from the MMP provincial party lists most likely to end up in the legislature will be the ones whose parties received relatively few votes compared to the parties which will form the government and official opposition. Put another way, the less popular your party is with Ontario voters, the more likely you are to be rewarded with one of the 39 new seats in the legislature.
Now Liberals for MMP have a new target. PC party leader John Tory used the “appointed” word in an interview with the National Post’s editorial board. Tory is quoted as saying he is wary of MMP because some MPPs would be “appointed by party bosses and accountable to no constituents”. Tory goes on to state he hasn’t encountered any voters who want more politicians in the legislature “or anywhere else”.
Liberals for MMP and I probably agree we don’t want to see John Tory become Ontario’s next premier. But on MMP, Tory clearly shows he understands the issue and the importance of local MPPs accountable to their electors. As one of the party leaders who would have to deal with creating a provincial list of party candidates, he admits he hasn’t given the potential process any thought. Probably the other party leaders haven’t either. But the proponents of MMP would have us believe some sort of nirvana will emerge in which all personal and political interests will be miraculously united in a utopian legislature where partisanship will be replaced by consensus building guaranteeing the public interest.
Thanks, John Tory for going on record with the truth.
