Big day tomorrow.
We will be officially offered a new electoral system.
On Oct. 10, the date of the provincial election, we'll decide in a referendum whether or not to accept that system.
The new system - Mixed-member Proportional, or MMP - will allow every vote cast by Ontario voters to be counted. It will also most likely put us in a state of perpetual minority governments.
And it will give us larger ridings, with MPPs elected there serving more people. But, at the same time, it will give us more MPPs. 29 of them will not have ridings. They'll be elected at large.
There are great arguments in favour of MMP. There are great arguments for the status quo. (Many of these arguments are summarized brilliantly in a previous three-part blog entry entitled Let the headaches begin.)
It hurts the mind for a non-partisan observer to choose a side. I've been trying since first learning about proportional representation (of which MMP is a form) during the 2004 federal election.
A side will need to be chosen, though. An "X" will need to marked.
The NDP are in favour of the proposal, but they don't like that a super-majority is needed for it to pass. The super-majority for the referendum requires that, to be passed, it receive 60 percent of the popular vote, plus a majority of the vote in 60 percent of ridings across the province.
The Progressive Conservative Party is in favour of the status quo.
All I hope is that people choose to set aside time to learn about the proposed system, and our current system.
It is an important matter. It is the future of our democracy.
There is so much weight to this collective decision it is worrisome. But we need to make a choice. Let us all make an informed one.