Vote for MMP

There are clear advantages to a proportional system. I think the one proposed by the Ontario citizens group that we here in Ontario are voting on, in a few weeks is one I think it better than the current system. They are proposing Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) representation.

It stops the practice of strategic voting and stops the wasted votes. It is it truly democratic to have someone who received 35% of the vote receiving 100% of the representation? If you have a 4 way race it may even be less than that.

Now I don't think anyone would suggest removing the directly elected MPs and system that are the hallmark of the First past the post system(FPTP). The MMP system merely tops this number up with MPs who come off party lists, in order to make the end result more equal to how voters actually voted.

Now you can vote for your local MP and vote his party, or even vote for the green party and have that vote count and matter.

Now you don't have to worry that voting for the NDP will lead to a conservative government. The system is designed to fix some elements of the FPTP that lead to small changes in voting leading to huge impacts on the results.

In the current system a small change of say 5% in the vote can lead to ridiculous swings in results.

Under MMP you also would be able to have representation from MPs you might not get under the current system. For example even though the Liberals have a stronghold in Toronto, under MMP you might be able to elect a conservative from TO. Or if taken federally, an NDP MP from Alberta (ok maybe it's a long shot).


Anyways I think putting together a new system is worth it. The entrance of new parties would have a refreshing impact on the political system, and hopefully on voter turnout.

Oh and that canard about having more MPs is wasteful, we're talking about making important decisions that affect all of us here, we shouldn't base our decision on how many MPs there are, but on which produces the best decisions.