GreenerPolitics

MMP: The Good, The Bad, The Adorable

Whenever we talk about elections, we seem to focus on what candidate or what party we plan on voting for. Perhaps because of this, we tend to forget the electoral system that shapes our choices. In Ontario, the choice is between Conservative, Liberals, the NDP and the Green Party. However, a move is afoot in Canada to change the system to allow us a more flexible choice on the ballot called Mixed Member Proportional representation or MMP.

The Good

Jim Harris is the former Leader of the Green Party of Canada and recent inductee to the board of directors for Fair Vote Canada. He believes that there is a historic opportunity to move to a system of Mixed Member Proportional Representation.
We talk about what it will take to win this historical vote, how it might be accomplished, and what kind of opposition the ‘Yes’ side is likely to encounter in the next few months.

If you’re interested in getting involved in this campaign, you can contact Jim at jim@jimharris.ca. You can also visit his blog on the Ontario election by visiting www.voteformmp.ca or by phoning Toll Free: 1-866-383-3667.
The Bad

Joseph Angolano is completing his Ph’d in Democratic Theory at the London School of Economics and is the creator of the website, www.notommp.ca. He accepted my invitation to come onto GP Radio to communicate his concerns about mixed member proportional representation, ranging from the politics around list creation to just plain confusing the Ontario voter. I spoke to him from his home in Toronto, Ontario on August 23.

Joseph will be working hard on the ‘no to MMP’ campaign doing research and keeping up his website.

Let the battle for MMP begin!

The Adorable

Scott Piatkowski and Rebecca Granovski Larson are two pet lovers who are representing their pets on Facebook: Adorable Puppies for Electoral Reform and Adorable Kittens for MMP.

Avo, a 6 month old puppy, believes that Mixed Member Proportional Representation will be good because it would allow all breeds of dogs to play together in Parliament.

Avo would also like to give dogs the vote and would institute mandatory dog walks and snausage subsidies for all citizens.

Scott Piatkowski represents the powerful lobby group of adorable kittens who present the citizens of Ontario with an ultimatum: pass MMP or all kittens in Ontario will lie on your newspaper while you are reading it, refuse to use the litterbox, or simply ignore you.

Pass MMP or face the consequences!