MMP would make MPP's more diverse.

This is from the http://scottdiatribe.gluemeat.com/2007/09/20/mmp-will-make-the-the-electoral-process-our-mpps-more-diverse/ I am all for diversity but only if it left wing diversity.


MMP will make the the electoral process & our MPP’s more diverse.
Posted by Scott Tribe on September 20, 2007 at 12:59 pm

One of the reasons supporters of MMP often give for supporting this electoral reform initiative is that we believe it will help the legislature become more diverse and more representative of the actual Ontario population. We feel the current system is very much stacked against more representation of women, First Nations, ethnic minorities and so on. Nowhere is that more apparent then in our current Ontario election. Look what Greg Morrow discovered in research at his site about the makeup of the candidates running in Ontario’s provincial election:

With the deadline for candidates to file their paperwork having passed, we now have the final tally of candidates for the 2007 Ontario election. Voters will be presented with a field of candidates that is almost 3/4 male and over 90% white.

FPTP does a terrible job at reflecting a country’s (or in this case, a province’s) diversity of population.

As we see here in this document, countries who use a form of Proportional Representation, including the countries who use MMP, elect significantly higher women to their legislatures. Note that the 3 countries who use the First-Past-The-Post system in this comparison - Canada, the US, and the UK - are all significantly lower. As we see here from the New Zealand experience, ethnic minorities have made the greatest gains under their MMP system of being better represented.

Compare to here, where federally, Stephane Dion’s laudable goal of trying to have 1/3 of his candidates as women could only be accomplished by the power of appointment - which has the ability to alienate the particular local party riding it’s forced upon.

Simply put, as we can see from factual evidence, MMP can help to address the inequities we have in our current electoral system, and make our legislatures representative of the diverse population. That can only make our democracy here in Ontario stronger, and ALL our citizens more involved in the political process.

UPDATE: Greg clarifies in comments that neither he is saying (nor I am for that matter) that MMP is demanding a quota system, but MMP tends to lead to more of these aforementioned groups get nominated a lot more at regional nomination meetings, which is how the List candidates are picked elsewhere in other countries that use MMP, and which will likely result here if MMP comes into effect. The bottom line remains that it will help to make this province’s legislature a lot more representative of its population and a lot more diverse.