Ontario electoral reform referendum, 2007
Encyclopedia
Mixed member proportional representation
Mixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world...
(MMP) system for elections to the Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario , is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the second largest provincial legislature of Canada...
of Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. However, the vote went heavily in favour of the existing plurality voting
Plurality voting system
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
or "first-past-the-post" (FPTP) system.
Proposed changes to the electoral system
Currently, Ontario elects Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) using the single member plurality, or so-called "first past the post" (FPTP), system. In this system, each voter gives one vote to a candidate in an electoral district; the candidate with the most votes wins and is charged with representing all voters in the electoral district. In most cases, the party with the highest number of elected candidates is asked to form a government.The Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform proposed a mixed member proportional representation
Mixed member proportional representation
Mixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world...
system. In this system, a voter casts two votes: one for a candidate (or "local member") and one for a political party. The local member is elected in an FPTP-style election and represents the electoral district, while the political party vote determines, in conjunction with the number of elected local members belonging to each party, how many list members a party receives. A list member is a candidate on an ordered list that a party issues before the election; if the MMP formula determines that a party can have more seats than it won locally, it receives a "top up" number of list seats. Under this new system, the Legislature would have 129 seats: 90 local members (70% of the Legislature) and 39 list members (30% of the Legislature).
In the proposed system, list members would be assigned using the largest remainder method
Largest remainder method
The largest remainder method is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems...
based on the Hare quota
Hare quota
The Hare quota is a formula used under some forms of the Single Transferable Vote system and the largest remainder method of party-list proportional representation...
. The number of seats would be determined by figuring out the "quota" (the number of votes divided by the number of seats) for a seat, and distributing all seats proportionally (including local winners) based on this quota. Fractional seats would be given to the parties in rank order of the fractional amounts — bigger fractions first, until all seats are assigned. For cases (expected to be rare) where a party received more local seats than its share of the party vote, resulting in "overhang seats", in order to distribute seats proportionally to the remaining parties, the Hare formula would be reapplied using the total
number of seats in the legislature minus the seats won by parties with one or more overhangs.
After local and list members were assigned, a political party's overall share of seats would roughly equal its share of the party vote, thus the results are proportional
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
. The conventions as to which party is asked to form a government would remain unchanged.
The referendum was held concurrently with the 2007 provincial election
Ontario general election, 2007
The Ontario general election of 2007 was held on October 10, 2007 to elect members of the 39th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada. The Liberals under Dalton McGuinty won the election with a majority government, winning 71 out of a possible 107 seats with 42.2% of the popular...
and, if passed, would have been in effect in any subsequent election. To pass, the alternative system required 60% support across the board, and at least 50% support in 64 of the 107 (60% of total) ridings. If successful, the new government would have proposed and passed new law for MMP by December 31, 2008.
Referendum question
On June 20, 2007, the Ontario Democratic Renewal Secretariat announced that cabinet had decided on the wording of the referendum question:
Which electoral system should Ontario use to elect members to the provincial legislature? / Quel système électoral l’Ontario devrait-il utiliser pour élire les députés provinciaux à l’Assemblée législative?
- The existing electoral system (First-Past-the-Post) / L’actuel système électoral (système de la majorité relative)
- The alternative electoral system proposed by the Citizens’ Assembly (Mixed Member Proportional) / L’autre système électoral proposé par l’Assemblée des citoyens (système de représentation proportionnelle mixte)
The question took many by surprise, including Fair Vote Canada
Fair Vote Canada
Fair Vote Canada is a nonprofit, multi-partisan advocacy group for electoral reform in Canada. It is active both federally and in those provinces where there are efforts to reform the first-past-the-post electoral system that is used in Canada...
, who were expecting a question requiring a Yes or No answer as had been the case in B.C. The referendum question appeared on a separate referendum ballot given to electors voting in the 2007 Ontario general election.
Results
- For detailed results, see Ontario electoral reform referendum, 2007 detailed resultsOntario electoral reform referendum, 2007 detailed resultsThe following tables are the detailed results of the Ontario electoral reform referendum that was held on October 10, 2007, in an attempt to establish a mixed member proportional representation system for elections to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario...
With 27,676 out of 27,680 polls reporting:
| Response to | # of votes in favour | % of votes in favour | # of ridings in favour |
|---|---|---|---|
| First-Past-the-Post | 2,704,652 | 63.1 | 102 |
| Mixed Member Proportional | 1,579,684 | 36.9 | 5 |
| Total | 4,284,336 | 100 | 107 |
For results by riding see the riding pages. The data is taken from Elections Ontario
Elections Ontario education campaign
The process had begun November 18, 2004, when Premier Dalton McGuinty announced the creation of the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. Modelled on the British Columbia equivalent, the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform (British Columbia)Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform (British Columbia)
The Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform is a group created by the government of British Columbia, Canada to investigate changes to the provincial electoral system...
, its recommendation would go to a province-wide referendum, as was done in B.C.
Enabling legislation was tabled in the spring of 2005. However, it was not passed until June 13, 2005, after an all-party agreement to delay the process while a Select Committee held hearings. As a result, the Citizens' Assembly did not get underway until March 27, 2006, and held the first meeting of its 104 members September 9, 2006.
The Ontario Citizens' Assembly recommended that a comprehensive, well-funded public education program, beginning in May 2007 (right after it released its final report) and continuing through to the referendum in October, be undertaken to assist voters with their decision. The Assembly recommended that the education campaign include a description of the new system and how it differs from the current system; a description of the Citizens’ Assembly process; and the Assembly’s rationale for recommending a Mixed Member Proportional system for Ontario. This would ensure that Ontarians could make an informed decision.
A June Environics poll showed that 70% of those polled were not familiar with the proposal, including over 50% who knew nothing about the upcoming referendum.
The McGuinty government decided to mandate Elections Ontario to direct the education campaign, but Elections Ontario didn't formally launch its public education campaign until August 2007.
The projected cost for the referendum was $6.825 million, an amount that fell short of the minimum $13 million called for by Fair Vote Canada
Fair Vote Canada
Fair Vote Canada is a nonprofit, multi-partisan advocacy group for electoral reform in Canada. It is active both federally and in those provinces where there are efforts to reform the first-past-the-post electoral system that is used in Canada...
. The assigned money would give one mailout to each Ontario household, a part-time Referendum Resource Officer in each of the province's ridings, a call centre and a website. Although the Citizens' Assembly had produced a shorter version of their report and a short leaflet further summarizing it, Elections Ontario distributed neither, to the surprise and disappointment of the Citizens' Assembly. By contrast, in British Columbia the Citizens' Assembly material was distributed to every household.
By late September 2007, public understanding of the question was still low, with 47% of respondents telling pollster Strategic Counsel they knew nothing at all about the new system, while 41% knew a little and only 12% knew a lot.
Support
The New Democratic Party of Ontario supported the referendum; however, party leader Howard HamptonHoward Hampton
Howard George Hampton, MPP is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He has served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Canada, since 1987 as the Member of Provincial Parliament from the northern riding of Kenora—Rainy River. A member of the Ontario New Democratic Party, he was also the party's...
criticized the system for giving Northern Ontario a decreased number of
ridings.
The Green Party of Ontario
Green Party of Ontario
The Green Party of Ontario is a political party in Ontario, Canada. The party is led by Mike Schreiner. It has never held any seats in the Ontario Legislative Assembly; however, the party did see significant gains in the 2007 provincial election, earning 8% of the popular vote with some candidates...
also lent its support.
Other political parties lending their support to electoral reform
Electoral reform
Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:...
included the Family Coalition Party of Ontario
Family Coalition Party of Ontario
The Family Coalition Party is a small political party in Ontario, Canada that promotes a socially conservative ideology. It was formed in 1987 by members of the pro-life organization Campaign Life Coalition, and has fielded candidates in every provincial election since then...
, and the Communist Party of Ontario.
The proposed system received critical support from Fair Vote Canada
Fair Vote Canada
Fair Vote Canada is a nonprofit, multi-partisan advocacy group for electoral reform in Canada. It is active both federally and in those provinces where there are efforts to reform the first-past-the-post electoral system that is used in Canada...
, which organized the Vote for MMP campaign, a multi-partisan citizens' based campaign. Vote for MMP had received a long list of public endorsements from all parts of the political spectrum. In addition, over 140 professors of law and politics have endorsed MMP.
The women's group Equal Voice
Equal Voice
Founded in 2001 by Rosemary Speirs and Donna Dasko Equal Voice: Electing More Women in Canada is a multi-partisan, non-governmental, non-profit organization that promotes the election of more women in Canadian politics...
were also critically supportive during Select Committee on Electoral Reform hearings, speaking in support of proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
. Equal Voice, with the support of the Doris Anderson Fund has organized the Equal Voice in Politics campaign to support MMP in the referendum.
Finally, MMP has been endorsed by the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Federation of Students
Canadian Federation of Students
The Canadian Federation of Students is the largest student organization in Canada. Founded in 1981, the stated goal of the CFS is to work at the federal level for high quality, accessible post-secondary education.-Structure:...
and sixteen other Ontario student unions.
Opposition
The Freedom Party of OntarioFreedom Party of Ontario
The Freedom Party of Ontario is a provincial political party in Ontario, Canada. It was founded on January 1, 1984 in London, Ontario by Robert Metz and Marc Emery, as a successor to the Unparty....
was the only party that officially opposed the proposed system, believing that rule by a majority can be anti-democratic and can be incompatible with the protection of minorities and of individual rights. Though the PC
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario , is a right-of-centre political party in Ontario, Canada. The party was known for many years as "Ontario's natural governing party." It has ruled the province for 80 of the years since Confederation, including an uninterrupted run from 1943 to 1985...
leader at the time, John Tory
John Tory
John Howard Tory is a Canadian businessman, political activist, former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, former Member of Provincial Parliament and broadcaster...
, opposed electoral reform, the party itself did not formally state an opinion.
Organized opposition to the proposal included the No MMP web site, which supported the FPTP option in the referendum.
Other
No official position on electoral reform was directly stated by the Ontario Liberal PartyOntario Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...
and the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario , is a right-of-centre political party in Ontario, Canada. The party was known for many years as "Ontario's natural governing party." It has ruled the province for 80 of the years since Confederation, including an uninterrupted run from 1943 to 1985...
. The positions of Liberal candidates on the issue varied, however, most PC candidates opposed the initiative.
The Ontario Libertarian Party
Ontario Libertarian Party
The Ontario Libertarian Party is a political party in Ontario, Canada that was founded in 1975 by Bruce Evoy, Vince Miller, and others, inspired by the formation three years earlier of the US Libertarian Party. The Party is guided by adherence to the philosophical ideas of Austrian Economics and...
, Confederation of Regions Party
Ontario Provincial Confederation of Regions Party
The Ontario Provincial Confederation of Regions Party is a minor political party in Ontario, Canada, the provincial branch of the now-defunct Confederation of Regions Party of Canada...
, Republican Party of Ontario
Republican Party of Ontario
The People First Republican Party of Ontario is a minor political party in Ontario, Canada, registered by Elections Ontario in 2004 as the Republican Party of Ontario. It nominated two candidates in the 2007 provincial election...
, Reform Party of Ontario
Reform Party of Ontario
The Reform Party of Ontario is a political party in Ontario, Canada. Until the 1999 provincial election, the party ran one candidate each election merely to keep the party's name in the possession of the Reform Party of Canada....
and Party for People with Special Needs
Party for People with Special Needs
The Party for People with Special Needs is a minor political party in Ontario, Canada, founded in 2007 and having contested the 2007 provincial election...
did not officially state a position on electoral reform.
Individual candidate endorsements
The following election candidates took a public position in favour of MMP (and against the existing FPTP) :- Liberal:
- Michael BryantMichael Bryant (politician)Michael J. Bryant is former public administrator and former politician in Ontario, Canada. A Harvard-trained lawyer, he was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the electoral district of St. Paul's for the Ontario Liberal Party from 1999 until 2009...
, St. Paul'sSt. Paul's (provincial electoral district)St. Paul's is a provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1999.The small but densely-populated riding covers the area to the north of Downtown Toronto... - Steven H. Fishman, Simcoe—GreySimcoe—GreySimcoe—Grey is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997.It was created in 1996 from parts of Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford, Bruce—Grey, Simcoe Centre, Simcoe North, Wellington—Grey—Dufferin—Simcoe and York—Simcoe.It consists of...
- John GerretsenJohn GerretsenJohn Philip Gerretsen is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and a Minister in the Cabinet of Premier Dalton McGuinty.-Early life:...
, Kingston and the IslandsKingston and the IslandsKingston and the Islands is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1968.... - Selwyn Hicks, Bruce—Grey—Owen SoundBruce—Grey—Owen Sound (provincial electoral district)Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound is a provincial electoral district in western Ontario, Canada. It elects one member to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario....
- Kate Holloway, Trinity—SpadinaTrinity—SpadinaTrinity—Spadina is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1988.It generally encompasses the western portion of Downtown Toronto. In the 2001 Canadian census, the riding had 106,094 people, of whom 74,409 were eligible to...
- Ted McMeekinTed McMeekinTed McMeekin is a politician residing in Flamborough Ontario, Canada. He is a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale for the Liberal Party of Ontario...
, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—WestdaleAncaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale (provincial electoral district)Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale is a provincial electoral district in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It was created for the 2007 provincial election... - Shafiq QaadriShafiq QaadriShafiq Qaadri is a family doctor and politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Etobicoke North for the Liberal Party.-Background:...
, Etobicoke NorthEtobicoke North (provincial electoral district)Etobicoke North is a provincial electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It elects one member to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.It was created in 1999 from parts of Etobicoke—Rexdale and Etobicoke—Humber.... - Tony RuprechtTony RuprechtTony Ruprecht is a former Canadian politician. His first elected position was as an alderman in the old Toronto City Council, in the late 1970s. He became a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1981, and served in premier David Peterson's cabinet as minister without portfolio from...
, DavenportDavenport (provincial electoral district)Davenport is a provincial electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It elects one member to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.It was created in 1999 from parts of Oakwood, Dovercourt, Parkdale, High Park—Swansea and a small part of York South.... - George SmithermanGeorge SmithermanGeorge Smitherman is a Canadian politician and broadcaster. He represented the provincial riding of Toronto Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2010, when he resigned to contest the mayoralty of Toronto in the 2010 municipal election...
, Toronto CentreToronto CentreToronto Centre is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1872 to 1925, and since 1935, under the names Centre Toronto , Toronto Centre , Rosedale and Toronto Centre—Rosedale .Toronto Centre covers the heart of... - Ian Wilson, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and AddingtonLanark—Frontenac—Lennox and AddingtonLanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004....
- Lorenzo BerardinettiLorenzo BerardinettiLorenzo Berardinetti is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is the member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for Scarborough Southwest, representing the governing Ontario Liberal Party....
, Scarborough SouthwestScarborough SouthwestScarborough Southwest is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons.On Toronto City Council, the southeast portion is represented by Gary Crawford. The northwest section is represented by Michelle Berardinetti.-Geography:It covers the...
- Michael Bryant
- NDP:
- Edelweiss D'Andrea, Ottawa SouthOttawa South (provincial electoral district)Ottawa South is a riding in the Canadian province of Ontario, in the city of Ottawa. It is represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty....
- Rick Downes, Kingston and the IslandsKingston and the IslandsKingston and the Islands is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1968....
- Lyn Hamilton, Ottawa West—NepeanOttawa West—Nepean (provincial electoral district)Ottawa West—Nepean is a provincial electoral district in eastern Ontario, Canada. It elects one member to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.The riding has been represented in the Ontario legislature by Liberal Bob Chiarelli since 2010....
- Edelweiss D'Andrea, Ottawa South
- Green:
- John David Ford, Ottawa SouthOttawa South (provincial electoral district)Ottawa South is a riding in the Canadian province of Ontario, in the city of Ottawa. It is represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty....
- John David Ford, Ottawa South
And these candidates took a position in favour of the existing FPTP (and against the proposed MMP):
- Liberal:
- Dwight DuncanDwight DuncanDwight Duncan, MPP is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1995, and is the Minister of Finance in the government of Dalton McGuinty...
, Windsor—TecumsehWindsor—TecumsehWindsor—Tecumseh is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004.It was created in 2003 from parts of Essex and Windsor—St. Clair ridings.... - Steve Peters, Elgin—Middlesex—LondonElgin—Middlesex—London (provincial electoral district)Elgin—Middlesex—London is a provincial electoral district in southwestern, Ontario, Canada. It elects one member to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.It was created in 1999 from all of Elgin, and parts of Middlesex and London South....
- Greg SorbaraGreg SorbaraGregory Sam "Greg" Sorbara, MPP a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for Vaughan. Sorbara served as the Minister of Finance in the Ontario Liberal Party government of Premier Dalton McGuinty from 2003 to 2007.He resigned on October 11, 2005, following a police investigation involving...
, Vaughan—King—AuroraVaughan—King—AuroraVaughan—King—Aurora was a federal electoral riding in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1997 to 2004, and was a provincial electoral riding represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2007.... - Jim Watson, Ottawa West—NepeanOttawa West—Nepean (provincial electoral district)Ottawa West—Nepean is a provincial electoral district in eastern Ontario, Canada. It elects one member to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.The riding has been represented in the Ontario legislature by Liberal Bob Chiarelli since 2010....
- Dwight Duncan
- Progressive Conservative:
- Mike Patton, Ottawa West—NepeanOttawa West—Nepean (provincial electoral district)Ottawa West—Nepean is a provincial electoral district in eastern Ontario, Canada. It elects one member to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.The riding has been represented in the Ontario legislature by Liberal Bob Chiarelli since 2010....
- Richard Raymond, Ottawa SouthOttawa South (provincial electoral district)Ottawa South is a riding in the Canadian province of Ontario, in the city of Ottawa. It is represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty....
- John ToryJohn ToryJohn Howard Tory is a Canadian businessman, political activist, former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, former Member of Provincial Parliament and broadcaster...
, Don Valley WestDon Valley West (provincial electoral district)Don Valley West is a provincial electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It elects one member to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.It was created in 1999 from parts of Don Mills, York Mills, York East and Eglinton....
- Mike Patton, Ottawa West—Nepean
- Family Coalition:
- David MacDonald, Ottawa SouthOttawa South (provincial electoral district)Ottawa South is a riding in the Canadian province of Ontario, in the city of Ottawa. It is represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty....
- David MacDonald, Ottawa South
Official sources
News coverage
- TVO's Live Coverage, Videos, Resources and Blogs of the Citizens' Assembly
- DemocraticSPACE Local/Regional Proposal
- Mixed Member Proportional