While electoral reform is not on the radar of most Ontarians, it soon will be. That’s because a group of 104 Ontario citizens are poised to make their recommendations which Ontarians will either endorse or reject in the fall referendum (the same day as the election, October 10). It has the potential to be the most significant renewal of our democratic institutions since Confederation.

Over the past couple months, Fair Vote Ontario (FVO) has reviewed the proposals for a reformed electoral system that were submitted to the Ontario Citizens Assembly (OCA) on Electoral Reform. In advance of the OCA’s first meeting to decide a) whether to change the electoral system and b) what new system best suits Ontario’s needs, Fair Vote yesterday released its rankings of best models.

We are pleased to announce that the DemocraticSPACE mixed-member proportional (MMP) model received Fair Vote’s top billing — the only model to receive its top rating of “excellent”. We’d like to thank the many readers who offered their comments and criticism. The final model was the result of feedback received by readers at DemocraticSPACE, Fair Vote’s Citizen2Citizen site (including reviews by FVO board members), OCA consultations across the province and the OCA’s own deliberations, as documented on the Citizens’ Assembly website and via video at TVOntario. The model represents a real-time response to the questions and concerns raised by Ontarians. As such, we feel it represents a solid starting point for the Citizens’ Assembly, should they decide to recommend change, and opt for a mixed-member proportional system.

Here is a summary of Fair Vote’s ratings of our model (out of 7):

Here are some of Fair Vote’s comments:

“Seven FVO raters collectively gave this Mixed Member Proportional offering top marks, Excellent (7).”

“The majority said Morrow presents a compelling combination of old and new values which could find public favour even in a referendum blatantly structured against reform.”

“Morrow Revised gives great weight to Ontario’s tradition of regional identification and geographic representation through single-member ridings, but also largely attains the modern democratic requirement for voter equality and proportional representation through political parties.”

“Morrow’s eye-opening suggestions for legal and party reform of candidate nomination procedures are outside the scope of a voting reform per se, but that did not stop him from advocating them. It need not stop the Citizens’ Assembly either. Electoral reform is indeed the centerpiece of democratic reform, but it will also permit and promote subsequent desirable changes in political practice.”

“What Ontarians need out of the Citizens’ Assembly and referendum process is democratic voting leading to democratic representative legislatures and democratic representative governments. Morrow has performed a great public service by showing that all these, Assembly willing, are within the Ontario public’s grasp.”