Five minutes with Shane on a variety of topics including our democratic system, effective voting, and electoral reform.

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Since confederation in 1867 Ontario has enjoyed a rich legacy of democracy here at Queens park. But in recent decades we have entered a period I characterize as hands off democracy. It's characterized by a lack of citizen participation. People feel increasingly that government is there to serve themselves rather than the citizens of Ontario. This has been seen though lack of voter participation in particular and a lack of youth participation especially which has shown a disillusionment with the system and a lack of trust and a lack of accountability among our leaders. I believe that it's time that we restored trust and we restored accountability to politics in Ontario and reengage citizens with the democratic system once again.

Restoring accountability in government begins with the way that we elect our representatives. Currently we use what is called the first past the post system. In this system a government can get less than 40 percent of the popular vote and still achieve a majority government and this allows them to wield unlimited political power. The First Past the Post system also leads to an adversarial form of government,where we essentially have two dominant parties whose job they perceive is simply to get re elected and to bash the other party until the next election. This presents a very unproductive type of system and does not serve voters well.

Over the past year the Citizens Assembly of Ontario has been meeting to discuss options for a better electoral system in Ontario. They have spent a lot of time studying electoral systems around the globe and trying to figure out what is the best system in our current environment, political environment, economic environment, social environment here in Ontario.

What the Citizens' Assembly has recommended is called Mixed Member Proportional. What Mixed Member Proportional or MMP means is that the voter will have two votes instead of one on election day. The first vote is for you own local representative, very similar to what we do know so that we still have our local representative that understands the local issues that concern communities. The second vote is for a party, so this now enables a voter to actually vote both for the person that they think could represent them best locally and for the party that best represents their values.

Under this system the vote for the party is then allocated in the legislature according to the percentage of the popular vote. For instance, if the Green party got 20% of the popular vote they would have 20% of the seats in the legislature and if the Conservatives got 20% of the popular vote they would have 20% of the seats in the legislature. This of course means that now every vote counts. There are no more waste votes and people will feel that their voice is now being heard again to a much greater extent.

Another way to restore trust and accountability in government is to reengage citizens in the democratic process. The Green Party of Ontario has always held this to be a very important value. We believe that every voter should have a voice, not only at election time, but on an ongoing basis to make sure that our politicians and representatives remain accountable to the things that matter and to the voters.

One way that I proposed to do this in Bruce-Grey/Owen Sound is by forming a local advisory committee. This committee will be made up of representatives of the agricultural community, the business community, healthcare, education, social services, First nations, municipal governments and others.

This committee will meet and share ideas to achieve a co-ordinated approach to the ecominic and social challenges we face in the future. I believe that this is the only way that we can ensure prosperity for the citizens of Bruce Grey Owen Sound.

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