As you may know, there's a provincial election on October 10.
Between now and then, we will all be a little confused. Don't worry, we'll survive, and we'll try to work through it together.
The problem is not the election, which will be, as elections are, confusing.
The problem is that this year there will be more to worry about.
As well as electing members of provincial parliament, which is normal, we will also be voting on whether or not we want a new electoral system.
The new electoral system has been constructed by the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. We're going to call it "the Assembly."
The Assembly was made up of 103 Ontario residents. Regular people. Over the past many months, they learned about all the different ways you can elect your representatives.
They compared systems from other parts of the world with our own system.
They came up with an alternative to our current system.
On October 10, after voting for our favourite candidate, we will have to vote for which of the two electoral systems on offer we prefer.
Our current system is simple.
This election, there will be 107 seats in the Provincial Legislature (four more than the 2003 election). Each seat corresponds to a riding, also known as an electoral district.
In Mississauga, there are six ridings: Bramalea-Gore-Malton, Mississauga-Brampton South, Mississauga East-Cooksville, Mississauga-Erindale, Mississauga South, and Mississauga-Streetsville.
Each of those ridings is represented by a MPP. At least three, and as many as a couple of dozen, candidates will be running to become the MPP in your riding. You will read about them, and maybe meet them, and then you'll decide which one you like best.
On election day, you will walk into a school gymnasium or community centre, you'll go behind a cardboard apparatus, and you'll put an "X" beside the person you want to represent you in the Ontario Legislature.
If that person receives more votes than anyone else, that person becomes the MPP.
Easy.
It's called the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system.
Tomorrow, I'll tell you about the electoral system the Assembly is proposing we switch to, or you can beat me to it and read about it here.