» Dion supports “considering” MMP
Here is a blog post about Stephane Dion’s recent agreement with the Green Party’s Elizabeth May to “consider” electoral reform.Â
It sounds like Dion is very much against pure list-PR, but gives credence to MMP. As for what agreeing to “consider” electoral reform entails, I don’t know.
Based on an interview with Dion from May of last year, it sounds like his biggest problem with our single-member plurality system is that it exaggerates regional differences. His example: In the 1990s, based on about 50% of the vote in Ontario the Liberals could virtually sweep that province, while “with 1/3 of the votes in the West we were unable to have a significant number of seats. It gives the sense we’re a party for Ontario and a party unable to have support in the West, when it’s not really the case.“ He also talks about MMP a bit, which he calls a “German” “compensatory seats” system.
The funniest thing about this is that the NDP always made electoral reform a requirement for full support of Martin’s government, but Martin would never go for it. Now Dion is willing to consider making a deal with the Greens to get what, exactly?
My snide aside aside, as The central party, the Grits have a lot to gain from electoral reform. In an STV-based system, they’re every voter’s second choice. In any system that creates minorities or coalitions, they win because they have some policies in common with everyone.
Jared
3 May 07 at 10:42 pm
Well, Dion didn’t agree to electoral reform, he agreed that it should be “considered”.
That is a good point about the Liberals being dominant players in most coalition governments under a PR system. The question is, would the Liberal Party prefer a system where they almost always share power, or a system where they often have full control?
Don
4 May 07 at 11:16 am
But yeah, I don’t understand the limited non-agression pact between the Liberals and the Greens. What does Dion expect to get out of it?
Don
4 May 07 at 12:42 pm