By Jim Snider 

On October 10, 2007, Ontario held a referendum on the recommendations of the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. The referendum gave the electorate two options: vote for the status quo electoral system based on First-Past-the-Post voting rules (FPTP), or support the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly to change to a system known as Mixed Member Proportional (MMP). The referendum to change the electoral system went down to defeat 63.1% to 36.9%, with less than 5% of the political districts providing majority support for MMP.  

The election was noteworthy in having not only been Ontario's first referendum since 1924 (virtually no one living in Ontario had ever before voted on a provincial referendum) but also the lowest voter turnout (52.8% of the vote) in provincial history. Clearly, whatever the historical novelty of the referendum, the referendum's existence was not a major draw in getting citizens to the polls.  

After these 2007 election results, the Liberal Party said it would not back another citizens assembly on electoral reform. According to its leader: "We've had that debate; I have an abiding confidence in the collective wisdom of the people of Ontario."  

Some Reasons behind the Defeat    

What explains the dramatic failure of the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform's recommendations to win voter support? A huge amount has already been written trying to answer this question. For at least several weeks before the election, insiders knew that the referendum was very likely to go down to defeat, so the explanations began early.

But nothing close to an objective, well-reasoned, consensus has yet to emerge. 

The explanations for the defeat are remarkably diverse. But the most widely reported fall into two simple categories, depending on whether the author was an MMP supporter or opponent. Those who supported the referendum tended to blame the information campaign (or its deficiencies) as waged by political elites, including party leaders, the press, and the government office (Elections Ontario), responsible for educating the public about the referendum.  

Those who opposed the referendum tended to argue that the referendum failed on its merits; that is, once the public came to understand the nature of MMP, they decided they didn't like it. 

Those who opposed the referendum also tended to disparage The Citizens Assembly process itself.  But the procedural attack was relatively rare.