Comments on: Plumping the Municipal Election

By: US Election On Best Political Blogs » Blog Archive » Politics, Re-Spun » Plumping the Municipal Election

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:02:33 +0000

[...] Politics, Re-Spun » Plumping the Municipal Election Add to this the recent 20 month US presidential election soap opera, another minority government election in Ottawa last month and for many in Vancouver, two provincial by-elections also last month. More on lessons from these later, … [...]

By: US Election On Best Political Blogs » Blog Archive » Plumping the Municipal Election « Politics, Re-Spun

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:04:14 +0000

[...] Plumping the Municipal Election « Politics, Re-Spun When we look at how to vote in local governments, it’s critical to understand how the “at-large” electoral process is different from voting provincially, federally and in the United States. In fact, understanding the at-large nature of … [...]

By: Why Vancouver’s NPA Lost Badly Today « Politics, Re-Spun

Why Vancouver’s NPA Lost Badly Today « Politics, Re-Spun — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:30:28 +0000

[...] Plumping the Municipal Election [...]

By: Stephen Elliott-Buckley

Stephen Elliott-Buckley — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:27:03 +0000

Well, you both think alike!

Thanks for the correction on the 10% result on the Ontario referendum. As I looked back at my media collection from last fall I can’t find where I had it at 10%. There’s a good chance it was just a dream. :)

By: Steve Withers

Steve Withers — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:06:36 +0000

The referendum on MMP in Ontario last year won just under 38% of the vote in support of MMP….not the 10% you report. This was a higher vote share than all but one of the parties contending the election. The Liberals on a “majority” with only 42% of the vote, not much more than MMP got.

The reasons for the result in Ontario were several. The official information campaign was empty of meaningful content about either option. The report of the Ontario Citizens Assembly was effectively suppressed from mid-August. Unlike BC, the Ontario government did not send a copy of the report to every home. if you wanted it, you had to ask for it and when you asked for it, they suppressed it by refusing to print more. It was only available on the Internet as a PDF file, meaning most Ontarians would not have access to it. The exact form of the any recommendation was not known until 20 weeks before the referendum and then nothing was done by the government to inform the public until 8-10 weeks prior to the vote.

Metroland media (TorStar – Liberal) and Sun Media (Conservative) backed the status quo monolithically and gave the referendum little coverage, almost none of it positive. For example, Sun media’s “London Free Press” did not cover the referendum AT ALL after a short story on September 16th.

MPP is one of those things that people like the more they know about it. In Ontario, the government and their media allies worked together to ensure people knew as little as they could possibly get away with.

Despite that, almost 38% voted for MMP…..despite the 56 daily newspapers in Ontario being 100% opposed.

Hopefully you begin to get the picture. This wasn’t a fair contest or a fair vote by any measure.

By: Wayne Smith

Wayne Smith — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:04:07 +0000

The Ontario referendum on Mixed Member Proportional voting actually got about 37% support, not that bad when you consider that the provincial government was re-elected with a “majority” government with 42% of the votes.

About a million people voted for MMP, far more than had ever heard of it a year earlier.

Although we were disappointed with the result, we felt that we had done about as good a job as possible considering the resources we had (none) and the fact that the government had actively suppressed information about the referendum.

In contrast to BC, where every household got a copy of the Citizens’ Assembly’s final report, the Ontario government decided that the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly’s report was “partisan” material and took it out of print during the referendum campaign.

Most voters were not even aware that MMP was being proposed by a Citizens’ Assembly. About a third of Ontario voters were unaware of the referendum until they were handed a ballot. Another third knew only what they had been told through a massive disinformation campaign waged by party organizations and major media.

Fair warning for BC voters: Proportional representation is about giving voters power to hold politicians and political parties accountable. Those who hold the power now will not hand it over without a fight.

Get out there and support BC-STV in the referendum next Spring!

More info here: http://www.stv.ca