Electoral Reform Referendum
Freedom Prevails
on Electoral Reform Referendum Question
McGuinty government
commended for following FPO leader Paul McKeever's proposed form of
referendum question
June 21, 2007
(Oshawa) - Freedom Party leader Paul McKeever today
is commending the McGuinty government for adoptng his May
15, 2007 proposal concerning the wording of the October
10, 2007 electoral reform referendum question. As McKeever had
proposed, the referendum will ask voters which electoral system they
want (First
Past the Post vs. Mixed Member Proportional) instead of asking them
to vote "yes" vs. "no" to the adoption of the Mixed-Member Proportional
system.
In FPO's May 15, 2007 media
release, McKeever stated:
"It should not be
surprising that the Assembly has recommended a yes/no referendum
question that asks whether Ontario should adopt the MMP recommended by
the Assembly. Their proposal is for a leading question;
one designed to improve the chances that the MMP will be
adopted. If the proponents of this oppressive electoral
system believe it to be defensible, they should try to defend it rather
than trying to win by trickery. Forget yes/no
questions. Let the voting public be asked which system
they want: SMP or MMP. And, for the good of
Canada, may the better part of every Ontarian's conscience
prevail."
McKeever is encouraged
by the fact that his proposal was adopted: "This is an election season, so I should
tame my praise and say that the McGuinty government is a
demonstration of the fact that even a broken clock is right twice per
day", said McKeever. "But, in all seriousness, I must commend the
McGuinty government for adopting the form of question that I proposed in
May. The yes/no question recommended by the Citizens' Assembly on
Electoral Reform was a leading question, intended to bias the voter in
favour of adopting the MMP. Such deck-stacking has no
place on a referendum ballot in a democratic country."
"We are now better protected
from being tricked into the adoption of an utterly ruinous and
paralysing electoral system: the MMP. I consider this a victory not
only for Freedom Party, but for freedom and democracy in
Ontario.
"This is encouraging news, and I
would ask all political party leaders in Ontario to join me in
supporting the First-Past-the-Post option. It is the only system
consistent with principled, western governance, and with the spirit
of the values enshrined in Canada's Charter of Rights and
Freedoms."
Freedom Party is the
only political party in Ontario that is officially in opposed
to replacing Ontario's first-past-the-post system with the Assembly's
proposed mixed-member proportional system.
FPO on the record concerning electoral
reform:
-
May 15, 2007
(media release): Electoral Reform Report Slammed - "Freedom Party
of Ontario leader Paul McKeever is condemning the recommendations set
out in a report by
Ontario's Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform..."
Click
here to read the full media
release.
-
April 4,
2007 (media release): Just Say "No" to Electoral Reform
- Freedom Party today released
a video to
encourage members of Ontario's Citizens' Assembly on Electoral
Reform not to recommend replacing Ontario's Single Member Plurality
(SMP or "first past the post") electoral system with the Mixed Member
Proportional (MMP) system..." Click
here to read the full media
release.
-
October 24, 2006 (media
release): Thumbs-up for Double Majority Referendum
Threshold
- "Freedom Party leader, Paul
McKeever, is expressing support for the McGuinty government's introduction
of electoral reform
legislation that – in effect - decreases the likelihood of
a change to a "proportional representation" electoral
system..." Click
here to read the full
media release.
-
October 6, 2005
(media release) - Paul McKeever's Testimony to
the Ontario Legislature's Select Committee on Electoral
Reform.
-
For further details, contact: Paul McKeever
Cell:
***-***-****
website: https://freedomparty.on.ca
e-mail: e-mail
FPO's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/fpontario
FPO's
2007 Election Platform: https://freedomparty.on.ca/election2007/platform.page.htm
This media release
distributed to all major news media and to Ontario's MPPs.
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