Yesterday I received a call from a solicitor saying "Hi, we are revving up the MMP campaign. Can you make a donation?". Being the news conscience politico that I am, I responded with "what? MMP? What is that?"
Having been reminded that MMP refers to the mixed member proportional system, a system that the Citizens Assembly concluded was the best electoral system to replace the current first-past-the-post system, I was pleased to see that Lawrence Leduc wrote an opt ed in today's G&M in support of MMP. As Ontarians will be going to the polls to vote for/against this initiative on October 10th (coincidentally...the same day as the provincial election), it is time get it back on people's radars (I am assuming that I am not the only one to have forgotten about....)
I will write more on this later, but in the meantime I will simply state that I am concerned this issue will get lost in the coming election. As we head to August, and September will ring in the election campaign, this issue stands to get to lost in the daily barrage of election promises. I suspect that non-news junkie voters may show up on election day with the same reaction that I had to the phone solicitor's request for cash unless there is a greater effort organized to educate voters.
1 comment:
Ok, I will comment on one of your posts . . .
I totally agree with you that this issue will get lost in the shuffle. And when such a low percentage of the population vote already (and probably fewer are actually informed) - it is unlikely that the people will come to the polls informed on this issue.
In Ireland, they have referendums on a lot of issues, and apparently people complain that they want the government to just make decisions without always coming to them.
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