From the listserv!

Sign up for the listserv! at www.voteyesformmp.ca Here's a sample.

The CBC has some interesting materials on their site.

One is an image of an interactive legislature where as you pass your mouse over a miniature of the representative, a larger picture often pops up with a description—useful reference tool.

http://www.cbc.ca/ontariovotes2007/features/features-seats-power.html



Also their coverage of the referendum has an interesting chart comparing debating points re MMP--see last item.



The Toronto Star has several articles on the probable continuing lack of representation of women and minorities in the legislature after October 10. Likely another legislature where diversity is once again depressed by the FPTP voting system.]



1- TheStar.com - Ontario Election - Legislature still won't reflect population

Legislature still won't reflect population

Number of candidates who are minorities, women `disappointing'
Toronto Star, Sep 04, 2007 Kerry Gillespie
http://www.thestar.com/article/252851



2- Strong female voices say goodbye

5 of 7 legislators calling it quits are women; some are prominent, including 2 cabinet ministers
Robert Benzie, The Star, Sep 04, 2007

http://www.thestar.com/article/252832



3*- There is nothing wrong with party politics

Eleanor Weekes, Toronto. Toronto Star, Sep 03, 2007

RE Questions surround MMP, Letter, Aug. 30

http://www.thestar.com/article/252161

[She is responding to the Aug 30 Remy Landau letter in the Star, The “bunch” she appears to be referring to seems to be the Citizen’s Assembly since the original letter was prompted by Assembly member Patrick Heenan’s excellent letter.]



4- A few more candidates in favour or opposed, The Skinny,
Monday, September 3, 2007
http://skinnydips.blogspot.com/2007/09/few-more-candidates-in-favour-or.html
[interesting blog which has an image comparing all the ridings regarding their representative’s declared support for the referendum—also a poll based on the referendum question.]



5- Ontario referendum 2007:Electoral reform or not?
By Emily Chung
CBCNews.ca Updated Aug. 31, 2007

http://www.cbc.ca/ontariovotes2007/features/features-referendum.html



[Interesting news article on the referendum—particularly a comparison chart of debating points—fairly good—some points could be expanded especially the point on the cost of more politicians—see Vote for MMP website for more detailed points.[



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1- TheStar.com - Ontario Election - Legislature still won't reflect population

Legislature still won't reflect population

Number of candidates who are minorities, women `disappointing'
Toronto Star, Sep 04, 2007 Kerry Gillespie
Too many names like Tom, Dick and Harry.

Not enough Mohameds, Samys and Sunitas.

There aren't enough Janes either.

Ontario's MPPs are predominantly white, middle-aged and male.

Many hoped the Oct. 10 election would help change that, but it doesn't look like the three main parties have nominated enough women and visible minority candidates to make a big difference.

"It is disappointing that, notwithstanding the demographic reality of Ontario ... the number is so low," said Ratna Omidvar, executive director of the Maytree Foundation, which supports social justice and immigrant integration projects.

Right now, only 25 per cent of the 103 seats in the Legislature are held by women and less than 9 per cent are held by visible minorities.

There are 107 seats up for grabs in this election. Here's who's looking to fill them:

Visible minority candidates: The Liberals are running 16, New Democrats 16, Progressive Conservatives 11 and Greens 3.

Women: The Liberals are running 38, New Democrats 36, Progressive Conservatives 24, Greens 10.

(There's some overlap between women and visible minority candidates, and the New Democrats have 17 nominations yet to be filled and the Greens have 45.)

There has been some improvement in the number of women candidates, but it's still not enough, said Rosemary Speirs, head of Equal Voice, an advocacy group devoted to getting more women elected at all levels of government.

The Liberals have increased their percentage of female candidates and have met Premier Dalton McGuinty's target of running women in 50 per cent of the ridings not held by the party. The NDP, the only party with an affirmative action policy to give women and visible minorities a better shot at becoming candidates, have "done their part." But the Conservatives aren't improving much, Speirs said.

"I don't doubt (Progressive Conservative Leader) John Tory's sincerity, I don't doubt that he has tried to find women but ... he doesn't seem to have been able to fulfil his pledge," she said, referring to his goal that a third of the party's candidates would be women.

Even Tory isn't happy with the number of women running for his party. "It's less than I had aimed for," he said, adding that, unlike McGuinty, he can't appoint candidates. Under Liberal rules, McGuinty can appoint candidates in a maximum of five ridings. For this election, he used the power twice and appointed two women.

If all the parties followed the NDP's practice of forcing riding associations to make genuine searches for women and visible minority candidates, the results would be better, Speirs said.

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2- Strong female voices say goodbye

5 of 7 legislators calling it quits are women; some are prominent, including 2 cabinet ministers
Robert Benzie, The Star, Sep 04, 2007

Seven MPPs – five of them women – are not running for re-election in the Oct. 10 vote.

The Legislature already lacks any semblance of gender balance, and now some prominent women at Queen's Park are leaving electoral politics behind.

Democratic Renewal and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Marie Bountrogianni, Children and Youth Services Minister Mary Anne Chambers, rookie Liberal MPPs Judy Marsales (Hamilton West) and Jennifer Mossop (Stoney Creek), and veteran New Democrat MPP Shelley Martel (Nickel Belt) are calling it quits.

Also not seeking re-election are long-time Liberal MPPs Ernie Parsons (Prince Edward-Hastings) and Richard Patten (Ottawa South).

Parsons, 61, has received a patronage appointment as a justice of the peace and Patten, 65, a former cabinet minister, told the Ottawa Citizen last March he was fed up serving in a Liberal government too fixated on Toronto issues.

Of the 103 MPPs in the Legislature, only 26 are women, which has made the departure of the five that much more significant.

Chambers, 56, who has represented Scarborough East since 2003, is retiring for health reasons. She has declined to specify, saying only: "I'm not dying or anything like that."

Bountrogianni, 50, the Hamilton Mountain MPP since 1999, is "leaving for personal reasons," including a desire to spend more time with her family.

Mossop, 47, lured into the Liberal fold during the 2003 election after the previous candidate dropped out, wants to be with her husband, Honeymoon Suite drummer Dave Betts, and their young daughter.

Marsales, 55, needs to devote her energy to her family and her thriving Hamilton real estate business, which has 45 salespeople and a third office opening this month.

The departure of three Hamilton-area Liberal incumbents has New Democrats boasting that they can sweep the Steel City in the election.

But the NDP is also losing a valued veteran in Martel, 44, a cabinet minister in former NDP premier Bob Rae's government.

An MPP since 1987, she and husband NDP Leader Howard Hampton, who represents Rainy River, have two children and have for years been forced to juggle three households.



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3- There is nothing wrong with party politics

Eleanor Weekes, Toronto. Toronto Star, Sep 03, 2007

RE Questions surround MMP, Letter, Aug. 30



This is the age of party politics – not personality contests. When a candidate runs for office under the banner of a political party, the electorate has a right to expect that that person believes and upholds the principles of that party.

The opportunity is there for anyone to run for office, and if a candidate is not affiliated with any party, then that person runs as an independent.

The electorate knows that independents do not hold power and they have to negotiate with the other parties to get their constituents' wishes drafted into law.

Personally, I see nothing wrong with that.

I wholeheartedly agree with the letter writer's questions surrounding MMP. This bunch looks like an exalted sore-losers club with a hidden agenda, and I hope their idea gets treated as such come October.

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5- Ontario referendum 2007:Electoral reform or not?
By Emily Chung
CBCNews.ca Updated Aug. 31, 2007

Excerpt Heated debate
Here are some arguments for and against MMP that have been put

forward by proponents and opponents:

Against MMP:
For MMP:

It's undemocratic because legislators chosen from party lists, who might even include the premier and cabinet ministers, are not elected directly by voters.

It's democratic: all representatives will be elected by voters either directly or through the party that gets the most votes. MMP will produce results that more closely reflect what voters want.

Legislators chosen from party lists won't represent specific ridings and therefore won't be accountable to voters.

Legislators chosen from party lists can focus on big issues instead of local ones, and will be accountable to citizens who voted for their party. Also, they can represent voters in areas where their party won no local seats.

MMP is too complicated.

Voters in other countries have not had trouble understanding it.

Because there will be 17 fewer ridings in Ontario, each voter will have less contact with his or her local legislator.

Having both party list and local legislators that voters can contact will increase each voter's representation.

Allowing at-large candidates to be elected from party lists will give politicians and political parties too much power in the choice of legislators.

Publishing party lists of at-large candidates in the order that they're ranked and giving descriptions of how the parties came up with the lists will ensure voters know who they are electing. Party members are already the ones who choose who will run in each riding. As well, these party members aren't necessarily politicians themselves.

MMP will allow "fringe" parties to hold the balance of power with two or three seats.

MMP will allow people who vote for smaller parties to have their voices heard in the legislature.

MMP will result in minority governments that change their policies after the election to gain needed support from other parties.

MMP will result in minority governments that must debate and gain the support of other parties instead of ramming legislation through.

Canadians don't like minority governments and feel they are weak and indecisive.

Canadians are comfortable with the balance of power in minority governments. Voters have handed minorities to a number of provincial and federal governments, including Stephen Harper's Conservatives in the 2006 parliamentary election.

MMP allows politicians to be elected who have no support in their own communities.

MMP encourages parties to seek votes in all parts of the province and not just their strongholds.

22 extra legislators will cost more.

Extra representation is worth the cost of 22 more legislators.