When the voters of Ontario Province go to the polls on October 10 to elect a new provincial government, they will also be voting on whether to use Mixed Member Proportional Representation. This will be the first time Ontario voters have had a referendum since 1921. The measure needs a 60% “yes” vote to pass. Similar referenda on proportional representation achieved majority support recently in British Columbia and Prince Edward Island, but those referenda didn’t meet the 60% threshold.
The 60% threshold, required to force the next government to implement the recommendation of the Citizens’ Assembly, is arguably unjustified, although some MMP supporters think it is fair. After all, every poll in the last four years or so has shown more than 60% of Canadians think voters should elect MPs in proportion to the votes cast for their parties, so every vote will count. And that’s without a modest concrete proposal having been designed by a consensus of 103 non-partisan Citizens.
Still, if a government is elected with 45% of the vote, will it really dare say “45% is good enough for us to implement our platform, but 55% is not good enough for us to implement the Citizens’ choice?”