Ontario Politics 101: Four More Years

The province of Ontario held an election yesterday. This election was short and sweet and interesting to watch. All in all, though, I feel like a teetotaller at a wine-tasting, because I don't get to vote.

Here's what happened in American-speak. The party that had won before, the Liberals, won the election. Liberal candidates won races in enough districts (here, "ridings") that the Liberals will lead ("form") the government again. In addition, the Liberals won enough ridings that they will form a majority government, which means that they also have enough votes to pass any legislation that the party puts forward.

There wasn't a race for the governor-equivalent, the Premiere (the person who will lead the province), exactly. In the parliamentary system, people vote for their district's representative. Then, the leader of the party who won the most races gets to be Premiere. (Or, federally, Prime Minister.)

Yesterday's election did the equivalent of giving the Liberals the governor of a state and a majority in the state's House of Representatives. And since there isn't a state senate-equivalent, the Liberals can do pretty much whatever they want until they have to call another election (in about four years).

Even if all the other representatives from all the other parties got together and voted against them, the Liberals have enough votes to pass legislation. All they have to do is keep from pissing off people in their own party. Sometimes that's easy; sometimes not so much.

Locally, the incumbents, both Liberals, appear to have been re-elected in spite of the Liberals doing a lot to piss off people up here. One major contentious issue is energy--the Premiere closed a coal-fired power plant in northwestern Ontario, which puts many people out of work in an area that can't afford to lose jobs, and at a time when there aren't viable alternatives online so costs go up. It also charges some kind of surcharge on energy, and most of the businesses in northwestern Ontario use a lot of energy.

Yesterday, Ontarians also had the chance to change how they elect their representatives ("members of Provincial Parliament"). Currently, they use a "first past the post" system. If 51% of voters in 51 out of 100 ridings elect Liberals, the Liberals form a majority government. Interests of the 49% of people in those ridings may (or may not) be represented by the members from the 49 ridings. However, the population in each riding isn't exactly equal. It's possible that a party may form a majority government without actually having a majority of the popular vote.

Sound familiar? Electoral college, anyone?

However, Ontarians rejected the proposed alternative method for selecting their MPPs. A study group had recommended letting people vote both for their MPP and a specific party, so that Parliament would include both members elected to represent geographic areas and members-at-large, sorta. In theory, this system would give that 49% of people in those 49 ridings--whatever party they voted for, and there are more than two viable parties here--a voice in government.

The advantages and disadvantages of each system weren't explained well at all in pre-election information. I don't have enough provincial history to know of instances in which a particular leader abused his power and the minority MPPs would have made a difference. The thing is, I'm not sure that the Ontario voters, who should have that kind of memory, were invited to speculate about that, either.

I wish I could come up with some kind of pithy summation, but I'm still mulling it over. Aspects of yesterday's election bother me, and aspects of the system itself bother me, and I'm not able to separate them yet. However, I'll work on it. Stay tuned.

I can say that I'll be pleased not to see any more political advertising for awhile. I just hope we get a new crop of commercials to go with the new fall season!