Why a National Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform?

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Ontario Liberal Karma: What Goes Around, Comes Around


The Ontario Liberal Party experienced its own form of Karma last week by losing not only the election, but official party status.

In 2007, the McGuinty Liberals promised a referendum on electoral reform. They held the referendum but posed a question that few would understand, including myself. They also did not provide funding or an educational program in inform people the importance of ER; it was designed to fail.

In the Ontario election, 52% of the votes casted were ineffective or wasted as result of our first-past-the-post electoral system. The Liberal suffered the most of the four main parties with 89% of their supporters’ votes being wasted.

Comparison of Ontario Election 2018
Ontario is now saddled by another false majority government, this time it’s the PCs that won the brass ring. Ontario has not had a true majority government supported by the voters since 1937 when Hepburn’s Liberals won a majority with 51.6% of the popular vote.

“The case for proportional representation is fundamentally the same as that for representative democracy. Only if an assembly represents the full diversity of opinion within a nation can its decisions be regarded as the decisions of the nation itself." Encyclopedia Britannica 

The Ford’s Conservatives enjoy a false majority via an outdated electoral system, therefore it is unlikely we will see any initiative to make the next election fairer to voters. 

Guest Blogger Dan Desson