September 17th, 2007

Web resources for MMP

Posted by David Pal

While the discussion of MMP has only slowly started working its way through the body politic, there are a tremendous number of MMP resources on the web. Here is a list of all of the major sites, plus a few lesser-known resources. Add any other sites in the comments, and I’ll post them here.

Elections Ontario
The official referendum site features an interesting, if repetitive, interactive video on the referendum choices, and an FAQ.

Citizens’ Assembly Material
The final report of the Citizens’ Assembly [PDF] is a nice introductory document that provides some simple projections for how MMP could affect Ontario, without delving too far into the mathematics and mechanics of the process.

To delve a bit further into MMP, with a few helpful election scenarios and some comparisons with other countries, check out this document [PDF].

A comprehensive overview of the Citizens’ Assembly process [PDF], including bios and photos of all 104 participants.

Partisan Sites
This is the main site for the Yes side. There are several documents, including an MMP FAQ, an argument against first-past-the-post, and fact sheets about list seats and MMP and women [all PDFs].

This is the main site for the No side in the referendum. Although there isn’t much documentation on the site, they articulate their arguments through an FAQ. There is also a NO MMP blog zone.

Electoral Reform for Women is the pro-MMP site for Equal Voice, a group devoted to increasing the number of women involved in politics. They have a resources section for campaign materials and an FAQ describing the reasoning behind their belief that MMP would increase the presence of women at Queen’s Park.

Liberals for MMP is, well, just that. There’s a thorough list of pro-MMP Liberals, as well as their manifesto on how the party should approach the selection of the 39 list candidates.

There is also a Conservatives for MMP site, that started only recently but is now frequently updated.

Blogs and Independent Sites
Ontario Election Reform, an excellent and frequently updated blog by Mark Fox, explores the referendum without supporting either side.

Here is a blog zone dedicated to the discussion of MMP, unaffiliated with either side of the debate. It hasn’t been updated in around a month.

Other Electoral Reform Projects
The 2004 B.C. Citizens’ Assembly on electoral reform.

Information on the 2005 B.C. referendum on a single transferable vote system.

A brief description of the various electoral reform initiatives throughout the country, prepared by the Library of Parliament.

photo from the Ontario Archives: RG 3-38-2-5