Would we be better represented?

Today (Monday) is the first day of campaigning for the Ontario election that will be held on October 10. Although this may be the first day of electioneering, the candidates have been out on the stump since Dalton McGinty sent everyone home last May.
Over the course of the summer we have witnessed the non election....election. Without much fanfare, Howard Hampton was officially nominated by the New Democrat Party to again represent Kenora Rainy River. His nomination came on the heels of Penny Lucas nomination for the Conservatives and Mike Wood representing the Liberals.
For the first time ever, a Green Party candidate (Jojo Holiday) will be on the ballot.
This is an important election. This year Ontario voters will make a decision about the way the government will be elected in the future. We get to choose between our present system, in which the candidate with the most votes wins or “Mixed Member Proportional system.
The Mixed Member Proportional system combines our present system of the candidate who receives the most votes wins plus adds in members for the party based on their proportion of the vote. Ninety (90) people would be elected directly and thirty-nine (39) seats would be filled according to the votes each party received.
The party then with the most seats combining elected persons and appointed persons would be asked to form the government.
Each elector would be asked to vote twice... once for the candidate in their riding and once for the party.
Currently in Ontario, there are 104 elected members. If the new system were approved, the number of electoral districts would be reduced.
Overall each party that “Lists Members” would have about the same share of seats that they received votes. Prior to the election each political party prepares a list of candidates that they would like considered as “List Members”
I wonder whether under the proposed Mixed Proportional System, if I would be represented. Where would those 39 political appointments come from? Would the parties look to distribute their seats with representation from across the province or would they focus more on representation from party insiders.
Would they fill their seats by balancing their bodies with male/female representation? Would they use those seats to fill their ranks with representation from ethnic groups?
None of the parties have explained in any detail their views on the referendum and how they would operate in the new system. How would the “List Members” be created?
We have to ask those questions of the candidates. In the end, under a new system would we in North Western Ontario be better represented, or would the party be better represented in Toronto.

–Jim Cumming,
Publisher