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Mindset
Deciphering
Election-speak
How many of us
believe that politicians will
deliver on their promises once elected?
Don’t confuse me with facts!
This referendum thing is too
confusing. I was talking to my husband who teaches Political
Science, and he went into such excruciating detail, I did what
our kids do when we lecture them, I zoned out!
– Tara Prabhu
Portional, not proportional
From what I
understand, Mixed Member Proportional would give us 129 mpps,
taking us back to the number we had before Mike Harris pared
them down to the current 103. Increasing the number of mpps
proportionately to keep pace with Ontario’s growing population
is a good idea. But I don’t see the logic of leaving us with
only 90 that we can actually send to Queen’s Park, the rest
being made up with whoever the party deems fit. Hey, I have a
better name for this – Mixed Member Portional – as only
a portion of the parliament would be answerable to the
people!
– Ziyad Khan
We should be less cynical
I am voting
Liberal. The Liberals get a bad rap for not having kept their
promises, but I think the press is slanted and doesn’t give
adequate coverage to many of their initiatives. They have
invested in bridge and training programs for immigrants and
high-need neighbourhoods. Yes, I know minister Mike Colle had
to resign for being overgenerous with public funds, but you
have to remember some of these were given out way before we
got into election mode. So at least those grants need to be
viewed in a less cynical manner. It’s easy to criticize, but
we should also be as free with praise where deserved.
– Manjit Sandhu
Going Green
There is a
perception that most desis – certainly those who are new
immigrants – are too focused on the material aspects of life
and not into issues that impact the environment. But we have
Sanjeev Goel representing the Green Party in Brampton-West.
Not my riding, so I will be unable to vote for him, but I tip
my hat to him.
– Usha Rangarao
Warm thoughts
I love premier
McGuinty’s promise of a long weekend in February! By the time
February rolls around I’ve had about as much winter as I can
take. A long weekend would go a long way towards making me
less of a grouch!
– Aster Joseph
When in
doubt...
To be honest with
you, I don’t know anything about this Mixed Member
Proportional business. You know what they say, when in doubt,
cut it out? I’ll just leave that ballot blank!
– Sheeba Singh
Back to square one
It is difficult
for me to decide whom to vote for this time – I think many
Ontarians feel the same way. Those tired of Mike Harris voted
for the Liberals four years ago, and are still waiting for
them to act on some of their promises. Those tired of the
Liberals thought the Conservatives had it right but here we
have them promising funding for faith-based schools –
something less Conservative would be difficult to come up
with! So it’s like each party is in the process of morphing
into the other and voters are back to square one.
– Sajal Gupta
The right
idea
Why don’t we hear
more about the ndp’s initiatives? They had the right idea when
they asked for the minimum wage to be raised. The Liberals
took it and ran with it, saying they would raise the minimum
wage by such and such amount by such and such date, but the
idea was originally the ndp’s and I think they should get more
mileage out of it. Whenever people talk of the ndp, talk of
Bob Rae’s performance comes up, but they have the right idea
on so many important issues. I believe a party known as the
conscience-keepers should be given another chance. It is a
party with its heart in the right place.
– Dipankar De
What do you
know about
the October 10 referendum?
On October
10, along with voting for their local mpps, Ontarians will get
to decide how future elections will be held.
Ontario’s
first-ever referendum on electoral reform asks voters to
decide which electoral system we should use to elect members
to the provincial legislature.
This is an
important decision, with long-term ramifications. So
important, that October 10 is not just Election Day, but
Election and Referendum Day. But how much do we really know or
understand about what we are being asked to vote on? An
informal survey conducted by Desi News revealed that
most people were hazy about just what this electoral reform
entailed and how it might affect them.
It might be a
good idea to understand what’s at stake before casting a vote
that might well change the political landscape.
Voters are
being asked to consider what is known as Mixed Member
Proportional – a system that combines the existing
first-past-the-post system with a proportional represent-ation
system. So what we really need to understand is the
Proportional Representation system.
Under this
new system, Ontarians will vote both for their local
representative as well as a political party. Ninety
‘local’ (elected) members and 39 list members would make up
the 129-strong provincial legislature. The political party
with the combined largest number of local members and list
members would form the government.
So who,
exactly, is a local member and who is a list member?
The candidate
with the most votes in an electoral district would be the
local member, using the current first-past-the-post system.
And under proportional representation, the number of votes
each party gets will decide their number of list members, who
could, basically, be any party member. A political party that
is entitled to more seats than it won locally, can make up the
difference from its list members. In other words, a political
party’s total number of seats will be more representative of
its share of the total votes.
Which is a
great idea. In theory. But perhaps we need to wait a little
and make sure everyone who is going to vote on it
understands the implications before putting it into practice.
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