http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/articleprint04/01.%20Make_your_vote_count_-_support_MMP!.html

Make your vote count - support MMP!

    (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Election Message from the Communist Party (Ontario)
http://www.votecommunist.ca

The October 10 Ontario election includes an historic referendum on democratic electoral reform. Called Mixed Member Proportional, it will, if passed, be the first vital step to ensure that every vote counts in future elections, and that the composition of future Legislatures more closely reflects the popular vote, instead of the deep pockets of Big Business.

     Legislating MMP would ensure that the Big Business parties would see fewer of their members elected, while progressive parties, women and minorities would secure more representation and more seats on balance. Coalition governments, including left and left-centre coalitions, are also possible and likely, once the 3% threshold is withdrawn. While the full value of MMP will only be realized when the 3% threshold is eliminated, and when more list seats are added to the mix, the importance of changing to MMP - a much more democratic electoral system - can't be underestimated. Without it, the Big Business parties will continue to dominate politics in Ontario, and working people's votes and opinions will continue to be discounted.

     The Communist Party was the first in Canada to call for a system of proportional representation more than 50 years ago. For 50 years, Liberal and Tory governments have opposed it, and continue to oppose it today. That's why they voted together to require a super-majority of 60% for MMP to pass. They don't want to be seen to be opposing a very popular voting reform. If electors turn out in the large numbers required for MMP to pass, the Communist Party will continue to work with Fair Vote Canada and others who feel strongly about a democratic electoral system in Ontario, to demand legislation be enacted to put the new voting system into effect without any delay.

     A breakthrough in Ontario will put PR on the federal agenda, opening the door to democratic electoral reform across Canada.

This election, we stand at a crossroads. We can move forward towards political, social and economic reforms, desperately needed after more than a decade of right-wing governments. Or we can go back to the reactionary prescriptions of the Tories and the broken Liberal remedies that will erode democracy, privatize health care and education, shrivel social programs, destroy jobs and futures, and make civil, democratic and labour rights disappear.

     The best outcome of this election would be a minority government, where the public could hold the government's feet to the fire, forcing it to enact essential legislation benefiting working people. The last minority government in Ontario - a coalition government of NDP and Liberal - ended 50 years of Tory government, and forced the delivery of some very progressive legislation.

     To move in a new direction, Ontario needs a new balance of forces inside the Legislature. We need a strong progressive block of MPPs, including Communists, left-wing Greens and NDPers, and others, who can work together to break up the neo-liberal grip on the Legislature, and fight to implement a People's Agenda - policies aimed to meet people's needs, not corporate greed.

     The passage of MMP will open the door to real progress in Ontario, creating the opportunity for progressive coalitions such as currently exist outside the legislature, to form inside the legislature. This is the way to secure real and progressive change in the Legislature in Ontario.