Mixed-Member Proportional

Isaac attended his first political gathering last night at an all-candidates debate in our riding, St. Paul's.

We are having a provincial election and referendum here in Ontario on October 10th. Isaac is not able to vote, but if he could he would definitely vote for the proposed new political system, mixed-member proportional (MMP). MMP would allow us to select both a preferred local candidate and a political party. The new system would have us choose "local" MPPs (Members of Provincial Parliament) in the traditional way in 90 newly created, larger ridings instead of the existing 107 constituencies. Then, we would also vote for the party of choice, on the second part of the ballot, to select an additional 39 MPPs from lists of candidates compiled by the parties prior to the election. This is the way that democracy has already evolved in New Zealand and Germany, ensuring that parties that have a percentage of the popular vote aren't completely frozen out of winning seats. For more information, see http://www.yourbigdecision.ca.

Isaac started fussing when the Conservative candidate got up to speak, subtly indicating who he won't be voting for :)