The Family Coalition Party candidate in Stormont Dundas-South Glengarry sums up nicely the answers to the most common objections to MMP:
From the above overview of the two electoral systems there are a couple of things that immediately pop out. The first is the increase in the size of the Legislature from 107 to 129. Until 1999, our Provincial Legislative Assembly had 130 seats. The Legislative Assembly is returning to slightly under the pre-1999 level.
The second objection is that we will be less represented because the Electoral Districts will be larger. Our electoral districts may be larger however, we have achieved greater representation by having, not only representation by area, but also representation by political opinion.
The third objection is regarding the ‘List’ Candidates. What if a Party produces ‘List’ Candidates which are totally unacceptable? If the ‘List’ Candidates are unacceptable then you vote for the Party which has provided the best ‘List’.
The fourth objection is the concern over the proliferation of small Parties. This provides us with better representation of the diverse views of people in Ontario. Again, there is a 3% Threshold of support which a Party must achieve to receive seats in the Legislative Assembly.
One of the benefits immediately visible is that every vote cast in a Provincial election would count towards some representation for that person. Thus, there are no wasted votes and every voter achieves some representation. This has shown to increase voter participation in countries using MMPR.
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