Ontario Citizens Assembly Moves Into Consulting Phase:150 More Student Assemblies Gearing up in the Province

The Ontario Citizens Assembly Finished up its “learning phase” in December 2006 and has begun its “consultation phase” for 2007

By Jim Snider

Ontario’s Citizens Assembly finished up its learning phase and is now entering its consultation phase.  The consultation phase includes written submissions from the public plus some 40 public hearings throughout the province.  To date, and based only on a handful of the public hearings, the turnout appears to be small.   An advantage of the local consultations appears to be that they attract additional local newspaper coverage. 

Newspaper Coverage and Turnout 

The three members of the Ontario Citizens Assembly who submitted comments all expressed disappointment with the press coverage.   This comes as a surprise because, compared to British Columbia and the Netherlands, Ontario was getting a bounty of press coverage.  But it is true that the vast majority of the articles were in small town newspapers.  Coverage in the major papers appears to have lessened in the past few months.   These observations suggest that press coverage may be helpful in keeping up the morale of members of citizen assemblies. 

                              First Student Assembly Report In: 150 Others Begin 

In late November, the Ontario student citizens assembly convened and issued a recommendation to the adult citizens assembly.  It can be found on their website located at http://www.studentsassembly.ca.  The Student Citizens Assembly recommended a shift from the current system to a mixed member system of proportional representation.   A handful of the students involved in the assembly were profiled in their local newspapers.  Next, the students who participated in the citizens assembly are expected to take what they learned and share it with their classmates back home. 

 More than 150 schools have already signed up to hold their own deliberations and formal votes on the electoral system.   The results of both the students’ citizens assembly and all the local school votes are to be included in a final report sent to the adult citizens assembly in February.

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