James OGrady replied on Permalink
I agree, the referendum on MMP in 2007 was a farce. Just look at the promotional marketing material Elections Ontario was handing out... Does this voter card motivate you to vote?
Ontario Votes
Ontario Votes
Posted on June 13, 2014 | Erwin
Dreessen | Written on June 13, 2014
Comments
Letter type:
Unpublished Publisher
Publisher:
Globe and Mail
The election results once again show how ludicrous and unfair a system of elections we have in this country. The Liberals increased their popular vote by just one percentage points and gained 10 seats; they can now govern unimpeded for four years, with the support of just 38.7 percent of the 51% of eligible voters who bothered to vote.
The PCs lost 4.2 percent of the popular vote and got punished by a loss of 10 seats. The NDP also gained one percentage point but got nothing. The Greens increased their percent of the vote by 66%, garnering almost 5 % of the popular vote but still have no MPP at Queen's Park.
There is a better way. The 2007 referendum on proportional representation was not a fair test, as Fred Cutler and Patrick Fournier have shown.(*)
Erwin Dreessen
(*) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/why-ontarians-said-no-to-mmp...
About The Author
Retired economist (Ph.D., Berkeley, 1972) Co-founder (1997) and former chair of the Greenspace Alliance of Canada's Capital. Wrote an annotated bibliography on what sustainability means for businesses (2009) --... More
Comments
Anonymous replied on Permalink
r.j. paré
Not a false majority at all. They won more seats than the other parties combined. The Liberal Party won in 55.1% of the ridings.
James OGrady replied on Permalink
A false majority refers to the popular vote a party receives. If its not 50%+, then its considered a false majority because, while the winning party may have won a majority of seats, that majority does not represent a majority of the popular vote. Its why many Canadians feel some sort of proportionally representative system would be more representative of the popular vote than a First Past the Post electoral system can. Britain, US and Canada are the only first world nations that do not use some form of proportional representation.