Citizens Assembly Blog

Since the Netherlands finished its citizens assembly last December, citizens assembly news continues to be driven by events in Ontario.  Of the more than 300 published news stories mentioning citizens assemblies since late February, more than 90% have been about Ontario’s Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.

Perhaps the major news is that Ontario’s Assembly finished its deliberations and submitted its recommendations to the government without any major surprises.  The entire process operated according to a carefully planned and strict schedule.  Its recommendations, which evolved in bite sized chunks over the last nine months, developed in a similarly orderly and predictable way.

Ontario Highlights
In chronological order, here are some highlights from Ontario’s Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.

April 1.
On the question, “What is the best alternative system for Ontario: Mixed Member Proportional or Single Transferable Vote?” the members of the Assembly vote:

75 for Mixed Member Proportional

25 for Single Transferable Vote

1 spoiled ballot

(2 members absent)

April 14. 
On the question, “Should Ontario keep its current electoral system or adopt the Assembly’s Mixed Member Proportional system?” the members of the Assembly vote:

16 for current system
86 for Mixed Member Proportional
(1 member absent)

April 15. 
On the question, “Do you want to recommend the Assembly’s Mixed Member Proportional system to the people of Ontario?” the members of the Assembly vote:

94 yes
8 no
(1 member absent)

April 17.

By a margin of 55 to 28, Ontario’s legislature passes Bill 155 to set an October 10 referendum date.

May 15.

The Assembly releases its report, One Ballot – Two Votes: A New Way to Vote in Ontario.

Dr. Jonathan Rose, the Assembly’s Academic Director, sent me the following update for the News Digest.

On May 15, over 60 of the 104 Ontario Citizens’ Assembly members were present when their report was given to the Minister of Democratic Renewal.  The hand off occurred at Hart House at the University of Toronto.  After the Minister received the report, members of the Citizens’ Assembly walked across the street to the legislative assembly where their hard work was acknowledged by all members during Question Period.  To have one assembly finally meet the other was, I thought, a suitable ending to their process.   

While the Assembly’s work is done, the government has committed itself to a robust public education campaign for the referendum at the next provincial election on October 10, 2007.  The final report marks the end of one phase of this remarkable experiment in citizen deliberation and the beginning of another equally important phase — a public educational campaign leading up to a province wide referendum.

The twenty seven page final report is available (in French and English) on the Assembly’s revamped website here:

http://www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca/en/default.asp

You will also find a draft of the 280 page background report that documents the entire process called  "Democracy at Work" under the Resources tab on the website. 

The third volume, "Citizen Deliberative Decision-Making: Evaluation of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform" prepared by the Assembly’s independent evaluator, the Institute on Governance, will also be on the website shortly.

Jonathan Rose

Academic Director,

Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform

Comments from Two Assembly Members

I asked Assembly members Anita Droog and Pat Miller what advice they’d have for policymakers in other jurisdications planning a citizens assembly, and they came back with the following comments:

[From Anita Droog]  I have tried to think about what you asked re: what should be changed the only thing I can think of is give more time. Eight months to learn, consult & deliberate is a really short time. We did it though & I would not change a thing, that we did.

I really proud of our outcome of 94 to 8 to present our results to the government. This shows that we were not brainwashed in our studies. As a matter of fact I could not tell you how anyone of the secretariat feels about any electoral system let alone the decisson we made.

If any other country/community should decide to have a Citizens’ Assembly I hope you find the same caliber of people as we did.

I don’t know if this is what you are looking for but i hope it helps

Arita Droog

Proud Assembly Member

[From Pat Miller]  All the group sessions I attended were well-run, focused and very rarely off topic. The facilitators had the knowledge necessary to make sure we understood what the particular issues were all about. There was never any attempt to lead us to a particular conclusion. 

What concerned me was that, in these sessions, over the course of 15 separate days of meetings, there were some of our Citizens Assembly members that I never shared a single session with.

I felt that the more people we met in close contact during the learning phase, the faster we were gelling as a team In my opinion if we’d been in the small groups with every member, before the break for the holidays, the dynamics that we reached toward the end of the deliberation phase, would have been arrived at sooner

Jim, I hope this is clear – it isn’t that I was disappointed with the group sessions (they were enormously important to us all). It is rather that it might help the other Citizens Assembly groups, as you suggested.in your E-Mail   

Best regards

Pat

It is noteworthy that Gordon Gibson, the architect of the British Columbia Citizens Assembly, echoes Ms. Droog’s observation in his Pepperdine University speech (see below) that Ontario may have cut the process short a bit in comparison to British Columbia and that this may not have been desirable.  In the same speech, Gordon Gibson also observes that British Columbia rotated the membership of its small groups to encourage the type of intermixing Ms. Miller recommends.  Ontario also did this to some extent.  The most noteworthy exception was a relatively small group of about 10 with poor English skills who met as a separate group.

Looking To The Future
Going forward, the next major expected event is the referendum on October 10 to support or oppose the Assembly’s recommendations.  To win, the referendum will need 60% of the votes in 60% of Ontario’s legislative districts.  (If the referendum passes, the new electoral system would not come into effect until 2012.)

Meanwhile, there are expected to be major privately funded yes and no campaigns to educate the public about the recommendations of the Assembly.  If there is one major difference between the British Columbia and Ontario citizens assemblies, this is it.  In British Columbia, there was a deathly silence after its Assembly finished its deliberations.  When the referendum took place in May 2005, the level of ignorance within the general population remained high.

That’s not going to happen in Ontario, partly because the level of publicity during the Assembly’s deliberations was much greater.  This is reflected not only in the number of media impressions but in the level of open partisan disagreement about the Assembly’s recommendations (open partisan disagreement is good for publicity).  Most important, going forward, the Province’s leadership appears to be committed to educating the public about the Assembly’s process and recommendations.  The government has introduced legislation that, if passed, would require Ontario’s Chief Electoral Officer to undertake a comprehensive non-partisan public education campaign leading up to the referendum. The campaign would raise awareness of the referendum and educate the public about the alternatives under consideration.  The general mindset is reflected in the Assembly’s May 15 report, which observes: “A comprehensive, well-funded public education program, beginning in May and continuing through to the referendum is vital.”  Insiders expect the campaign’s budget will be $4.5 million to $6 million—almost as much as creating the Citizens’ Assembly itself. 

A lot of folks are also acutely aware that this is the first referendum for the Province of Ontario since 1921 (the last one was on prohibiting alcohol consumption).  This is not California or even British Columbia where citizens are used to seeing multiple or even onerously numerous referendums on the ballot.  Just the fact that there is a referendum on the ballot is a newsworthy event.

All was not peaches and cream for Ontario’s citizens assembly.  Going in to its April 15 vote, there was plenty of criticism in the mainstream press of its expected recommendations.  However, since that vote, the press has been almost uniformly positive toward the Assembly’s work.

An unexpected criticism of the Assembly’s recommendation is that it leaves a lot of details, such as how the party lists will be chosen, to be worked out by the government that takes office after October 10.   The fear is that the details are important and that this thus creates an opportunity for abuse.  I think this is a fair concern, but I also think that the scope for abuse is relatively small and not significantly different from what already exists.

As October 10 gets close, a major poll funded by the national Conservative government is expected to release results debunking a regional poll conducted in March that was generally favorable to the citizens assembly.  All that I definitively know right now is that the Conservative government has hired pollster Conrad Winn to conduct the poll.  The Conservative government has also hired a think tank, the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, to convene focus groups across the country to address a variety of democratic reform proposals, including electoral reform.

Nevertheless, my sense right now is that the yes campaign will be a lot louder than the no campaign, so the referendum’s success or defeat will largely hinge on whether the public understands and trusts the citizens assembly process and respects the judgment of the most visible spokespeople for the yes campaign. 

I have little idea how the battle over the referendum will play out, which should make the next four months interesting.  I expect to provide at least one update between now and the October 10^th referendum. 

Ontario Becomes The Citizens Assembly Gold Standard
Overall, I would say that Ontario now replaces British Columbia as the gold standard for a well conducted citizens assembly.  Ontario closely observed British Columbia’s procedures and improved upon them, with the possible two caveats noted above.  Most important, Ontario proved that the success of British Columbia was not an aberration.  Citizens asked to participate in a citizens assembly will take the process very seriously and collectively perform as well if not better than our so-called professional legislators.

One of the most important findings from the experience of both British Columbia and Ontario is what an extraordinarily complicated and costly undertaking a well executed citizens assembly can be.  The amount of effort and the diversity of skills necessary to pull off a successful citizens assembly are immense.  This is well documented in the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly’s 280 page report, and I’d encourage you to read it.

What does this difficulty and expense mean?  Citizens assemblies cannot be casually entered into.  Reformers in Canada, California, and elsewhere now want to create “citizens assemblies” to deal with a host of different issues.   Can society afford dozens of different citizens assemblies on a host of different issues?  I doubt it very much.  The quality will deteriorate and we will begin to see failures.  Thank god that British Columbia and Ontario proved that the concept can be a success so when others implement it and fail, the blame will be placed on the implementation and not the concept. 

The Citizens Assembly Concept
Ideally, I’d like to keep a clear distinction between “citizens assemblies” and “deliberative opinion polls.”  As the phrase “citizens assembly” now has such cachet, that distinction appears more and more difficult to keep.  For an example of the muddling of the two concepts, see recommendation #5 of the January 15, 2007 report of the Liberal Renewal Commission Task Force on Civic Engagement.  The Liberal Renewal Commission was created by the Liberal Party of Canada and endorsed citizens assemblies on a range of issues from homelessness to global warming.

I think a minimum definition of a citizens assembly should require that a citizens assembly 1) be created by government, and 2) have formal government powers (it is not just an advisory committee).   I’d also make a sharp distinction between citizens assemblies formed to deal with an issue where elected officials have a clear conflict of interest and citizens assemblies on all other issues.  The former I consider “primary” (and highly limited in potential scope) and the latter “secondary” (and virtually limitless in potential scope).  I believe the focus right now should be on creating primary citizens assemblies.

Outside Ontario
Outside of Ontario, the citizens assembly news is slight.  There are lots of incidental mentions of citizens assemblies in English speaking countries but that’s quite different from a powerful political leader endorsing the concept or getting enough signatures to put a citrizens assembly proposal on the ballot as an initiative.

One curiosity is that the decision of Ontario’s citizens assembly to hold a referendum was reported in papers in provinces throughout Canada—albeit in the back pages—but there wasn’t a single mention of the decision in the U.S. press.

Alberta, tucked between Ontario and British Columbia, seems to have incorporated the concept of a citizens assembly in its discourse almost to the extent that British Columbia and Ontario have.  It even has a local policy institute devoted largely to pursuing the concept.  My guess is that if there is another citizens assembly in Canada, that’s where it will take place.  But I defer to those who have a better knowledge of Canadian politics than my readings of the local press. 

In British Columbia, the NDP’s party leader has proposed holding a citizens assembly to determine the appropriate pay of legislators.

California continues to be on hold.  Perhaps the most noteworthy news was a February 23-24, 2007 conference on deliberative democracy, including the citizens assembly concept, co-hosted by Common Sense California, Pepperdine University School of Public Policy, and the New America Foundtion. The featured speaker on citizens assemblies was Gordon Gibson, the architect of the British Columbia citizens assembly.  Gibson is a wise man, and though I don’t agree with everything he said, I’d encourage serious students of the citizens assembly process to read his comments.

In the State of Pennsylvania, a democratic reform group, Democracy Rising Pennsylvania, testified on March 26 before the Senate’s Government Committee on the benefits of using a citizens assembly for a constitutional convention.  The type of citizens assembly proposed is perhaps closest to the citizens assembly legislation Assemblymen Canciamilla and Richman introduced in California in January 2006.

In British Columbia, a story in the April 11 edition of the Sudbary Star reports that a Bruce Krayenoff is filing papers to form a “Citizens’ Assembly Party” for the Province of British Columbia.   This Party would take groups of 20 average citizens to make the major decisions for the Party.  Needless to say, I’m not enamored of attaching the term “Citizens Assembly” to such an endeavor.

In New Zealand, the national Green Party has called on the government to create a citizens assembly, starting in 2009, to address campaign finance reform.

In Wales, a region within the United Kingom, the Plaid Party has called on the regional government to create a citizens assembly to bring issues before the legislature and cabinet.  To my knowledge, this is the first time a fairly high level political authority has endorsed the idea of creating a standing citizens assembly as opposed to an ad hoc one to deal with a particular issue and then disband.

In Bulgaria, a deliberative opinion poll on how to improve the lives of the impoverished Roma (popularly known as gypsies) was conducted under the auspices of Stanford University Professor Jim Fishkin. 

In the Netherlands, the news is slim.  Professor Henk van der Kolk from the University of Twente, who as a first hand observer has submitted numerous posts to the Citizens Assembly News Digest, reports that there is expected to be a parliamentary meeting on citizens assemblies in September or October.  Meanwhile, the minority party that sponsored the advisory only citizens assembly has had difficult getting its recommendations noticed in parliament.

Three members of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly–David Proulx, Pat Miller, and Arita Droog–have contributed the following observations about the recently completed consultation stage.

David Proulx
The consultation meeting we held in Cornwall had a better than expected turnout. Considering that it was held in the middle of January during one of the season’s worst storms. There were approximately twenty people in attendance with seven presenters. Each of whom represented themselves and only one of them representing Fair Vote Ontario.

Although some other meetings had fewer people turnout while others had more, I can only hazard a guess for the reason, and I think that if we did it on a per capita basis the numbers would be closer.

I found the meeting to be helpful and it gave me a better perspective on what the people in my area would like to see happen. I have begun reading some of the written submissions, over two thousand, and am getting a clearer picture of what the people of Ontario want.

If only everybody could be as enthusiastic about this whole process as the 103 young people chosen to mirror us for the Student’s Assembly. Their presentation was excellent and they made it clear what they want, CHANGE! They reminded us that any decision that we make will affect them the most because they are the future voters and even dare I say politicians.

Now that the first weekend of deliberation is finished, we now know what intense works lies ahead in the coming weekends. And I would like to finish by saying that all 103 members of the assembly want to get this right the first time!

Until next time,

David Proulx,
Ontario Citizens’ Assembly member

Pat Miller
As we enter the third and final stage of this Citizens’ Assembly in Ontario, just a few words to give you my impressions of where we are.

The consultation phase, composed of meetings with the general public, outreach meetings with the disadvantaged and written submissions is completed. There was a slow start, at the end of November and the first two weeks of December. Bad weather, and poor press coverage to advertise the meetings translated into lower numbers for the meetings I attended. On December 5th I attended a meeting in Markham (covering Markham and Oak ridges ridings).

Click here for a link to Pat’s presentation, recorded on video, before the Assembly on February 17. Her presentation begins a little before the midway point (about 25 minutes into the video).

Arita Droog
(note: this is drawn from her op-ed published in the Owen Sound Sun Times on February 12)

Hi there. It has been quite a while since I last wrote an article for the paper.

Yes I have been slacking off in the writing department, but not in the learning department.

Since my last article I have been to three public consultation meetings and appeared on cable TV. The consultations were interesting to say the least.

First off, I would like to thank those who came to the meeting on Dec. 4.

I felt proud that we had as many speakers as we did. To me that means that the message is getting out there and people are concerned about what’s happening.

Hooray Owen Sound!

You make me proud to be from this area.

As for the other meetings that I attended, the main focus was on change, either to proportional representation or mixed member proportional.

Some speakers did not want change while others advocated whole new systems.

Some preferred single transferable vote while others liked the two- round system.

So as you can see there are many diverse points of view that need to be considered.

After this first meeting I thought I could handle all the information by sorting through it and using it to help me make my decision.

Then I attended another consultation meeting in Orangeville. There again I was bombarded with thoughts, ideas and information.

Again the subject of fairness of representation came up several times, and stronger voter participation was a major concern too.

In Belleville the theme was change, again most suggested MMP or PR with one or two suggesting no change to the system.

I think though that one of the major concerns, should we recommend a change, was the issue of a public education campaign.

At this point in time there are many people who are not yet aware that we are in the midst of this process.
Hopefully they will be aware sometime before they get handed their ballot in October. This is not part of our mandate, but I believe that as part of the process we can recommend or suggest that a public education campaign should be undertaken.

In looking at the hansard (Nov 16/06) it looks like this is already in place should we recommend a change.
Many other issues were also brought up, like:

We should consider how elections are financed. Unions and business should not be allowed to dominate the funding of politics.

The voting age should be lowered.

The referendum should be held separately from the election to create more interest.
A 60 per cent threshold for the referendum is too high.

These are all issues that are beyond our mandate, but we can choose to comment on them in our final report.

The information is starting to stack up and I have yet to come to some kind of conclusion.
So you see where my dilemma is. Everyone has a good point, every system has its good points and bad points and every person has the right to a vote that counts.

To those of you who know me, you know that I will be wrestling with this until the final conclusion.
To those of you who only know me through this column I hope I will have your support on whatever decision I/we make. Until next time.

On the weekends that we are meeting you can see us in action with live web streaming on the TVOntario website, http://www.tvo.org/ cfmx/tvoorg/citizensassembly/

You can also write the assembly at Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat, 1075 Bay St., Suite 830, Toronto, Ont., M5S 2B1

You can also follow along at the website www.citizensassembly. gov.on.ca

Please note that, unless explicitly stated otherwise, all first person accounts are simply that; they do not represent any type of official position. The following first person accounts written specifically for this blog are from: 1) Pat Miller, 2) Arita Droog, and 3) David Proulx

1) From Pat Miller, Member of the Ontario Citizens Assembly

Observations re the progress of the Ontario Citizens Assembly

The Citizens Assembly has been a wonderful experience for me as I had been retired for a number of years. At the age of 72, I wondered if I even had the capacity to take in and understand what I needed to make any useful contribution. Surprise, surprise! I found that, having a fair amount of time available during the week, I have been able to cram many months –(or even years) of study into that time. I was very computer literate to begin with and had an interest in politics from my teens. I am at the stage now when I feel confident in expressing the pros and cons of the various electoral systems.

As for the assembly meetings, the organization has been so well managed by the Secretariat that we have been enabled to learn as fast as we are able. The format of plenary sessions and small group meetings has worked well on the whole.

There are different learning styles apparent that impact on our ability to work as efficiently as possible. While the selection of each candidate was at the final stage literally a name pulled out of a hat, the people who accepted the initial request to be considered had to fit certain demographics. Also it was important they were able to commit to the time necessary.

There are about a third of us that are retired, and are more affected by the long days than others. Another difficulty for the older members is the environment in Osgoode Hall at York University. We have several staircases to go up and down to the washroom facilities and the lunchroom at the lower level. For the small group meetings we retire to individual rooms scattered on 5 or 6 levels. Again that poses some difficulties for older and handicapped members. There is one small elevator but it is away from the central area.

The plenary sessions are in Moot Hall and we are seated in a theatre layout. We look down on a stage where teachers and guest speakers address us from. We see little of our fellow members in this kind of seat arraignment. The BC Citizens Assembly met for their plenary sessions in a hall with a circular layout where the members could face each other. I think we are disadvantaged by not having that ability.

I have some concerns about the composition of the small groups; but would prefer to wait till the end of the meetings in May, 2007 to forward you my impressions.

Now for the relations between a) the Assembly members and b) the members and the secretariat

a): With very few exceptions, we have gelled as a team faster than I would ever have imagined. There is a strong effort on everyone’s part to make this assembly successful. The difficulties that arise occasionally have been handled professionally by the secretariat and particularly by the facilitators of the small group meetings. I would like to commend particularly the younger members, most of who have put out an enormous effort. Since I like to think that older members have been bestowed with some wisdom that life (and living it) teaches you, we tend to allow for youthful impatience and sometimes disrespectful behaviour. There has been so little of that from our youngsters; most of them show a maturity beyond their years.

b): The Administrative support (the secretariat and the facilitators) are all, without exception, so wonderfully supportive and considerate towards us all. It shows that they have been carefully selected for their roles

I must make special mention of our Chair, George Thomson. He has the gift of making us feel comfortable while keeping us on our time-lines. He is a concensus maker; the perfect type to get us to final decision in my opinion. Also, Dr. Jonathan Rose is an excellent teacher; his presentations are clean, clear and delivered with energy and enthusiasm, so important to keeping our attention.

We have met the leaders of the Student Assembly, but not the whole group. This meeting is planned for early next year. We have followed their activities and some of the students have attended the public consultation meetings. .

I have attended the two meetings last week and had good input from the public. It is useful to hear first hand how important most of the presenters feel that there is a need for change. At both meetings, there was only one individual who strongly felt that we should stay with our current system.

The most disappointing aspect of this Citizens Assembly is the apparent indifference of the press. There has been little coverage by the major newspapers, and what there has been is often negative reporting.

2) From Arita Droog, Member of the Ontario Citizens Assembly

I have been sitting here at my desk for several hours now trying to come up with an article that is clear and concise. Something that you folks can sink your teeth into but, the more I try, the more I feel I need to explain. So here goes the final draft.

My experience so far with the Citizens’ Assembly is just what I expected it to be. I expected that it would be difficult to get into an electoral mind set. I expected that it would take me some time to be comfortable with the language. I expected that I would need to do lots of homework. And I expected that people would be interested its future.

So far my expectations were right, all except that people would be interested. Don’t get me wrong, once I explain what I’m doing they are interested and ask questions, but usually more of a political nature than an electoral.

I think we need to get more press out there to explain to people exactly what is going on. We have been promised that if we do decide to make a change to the system there will be an educational program set up to inform the public. But in the meantime, we need the press to come to our sessions to see what we are doing, what we are learning, so that there are no misconceptions about it. We have received some rather unfavorable press from some big city papers, if only these reporters had come to see for themselves, then they could report the facts not their perceptions.

Non-partisan teachers, facilitators, professors and many a political scientist have schooled us. We have been challenged to learn from the best. From my way of thinking these folks cannot even agree on a definitive system, so our task will not be an easy one. I don’t think there has been a weekend where there were less than 100 of the 103 members, that’s what I call dedication.

The only thing that I can see that will improve what we are doing is to have a meeting room at the hotel, where we can openly discuss our thoughts on various topics like: values and principles, representation for women and minorities, voter turnout etc., just so we can hash it out amongst ourselves. I believe come next session such a space will be at our disposal. This should help get things out in the open before final decision time.

In conclusion, I feel that this journey we are on will not end when we hand in our final report. I believe, that should we recommend a change, we will be in the thick of it for years to come. I look forward to the challenge.

–Arita Droog, Representative for the riding of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound

3) From David Proulx, Member of the Ontario Citizens Assembly

Now that the learning phase is complete I feel a little more comfortable in discussing electoral systems but am still far from being a scholar or political scientist. Professor Jonathan Rose provided us with the adequate amount of information to help us make our final decision.

The help that we received from the secretariat team, from transportation to extra information or anything else that we needed, was excellent. The one area that I was disappointed with, and I don’t feel that it was the secretariat team’s fault, was the lack of media coverage. Something this important was barely covered in the media.

My public meeting isn’t until Jan., 07, and maybe by then the media coverage will be more adequate. I just hope that the posters and word of mouth will provide a good turnout for the meeting. From what I have heard there has been fairly good turnout and response in other meetings.

I hope that I was able to provide you with some useful feedback and will try to keep in touch as I progress through this very important democratic process of getting the citizens involved in the electoral system design.

Thank you,

–David Proulx

The major citizens assembly news continues to come out of the Netherlands and Ontario. The Netherlands Citizens Assembly only has one more meeting left on its agenda and will issue a report to the minister of government reform in early December. As the Netherlands Citizens Assembly has approached its last lap, Dutch language press coverage of its activities appears to have increased.

The Ontario Citizens Assembly continues to roar ahead, with lots of local press coverage and some important milestones being reached. On October 25, 2006, legislation was introduced to allow for a referendum question on next year’s ballot. The referendum will be held on October 4, 2007. The most controversial feature of this legislation is that it requires a 60% majority for the legislation to pass. Many people argued for a 50% threshold.

The Ontario Citizens Assembly has announced that it will hold 37 “public consultations” around Ontario during its next phase. To facilitate public participation, it has set up an excellent website. An especially impressive overview document on this website is “Citizens Talking to Citizens.” George Thomson, Chair of the Ontario Citizens Assembly, described his public engagement philosophy in a late September op-ed that ran in multiple local newspapers: “Assembly members know that the process will only be truly successful if their fellow citizens are learning with them and if the assembly learns from them. It isn’t enough to wait for the assembly’s report before focusing on an issue that takes some time to learn and understand.”

One striking innovation in Ontario is the introduction of a high school students citizens assembly to run parallel to the official, adult citizens assembly. The high school student citizens assembly is being run out of the same office as the adult citizens assembly and has been allocated a budget of $200,000. The student citizens assembly has two components. First, instructional materials so individual high school classes can run their own assemblies. Second, a province wide assembly constituted of 103 students—the same size as the adult citizens assembly. Unlike the adult citizens assembly, students must submit their names to be part of the citizens assembly lottery pool. The recommendations of the student citizens assembly will be formally submitted to the adult citizens assembly.

In my judgment, the student citizens assembly idea is a brilliant marketing and civic participation strategy. It brings the public into the debate in a very meaningful way while creating many additional opportunities for press coverage of the adult citizens assembly.

On September 25, 2006, the Center for Ethics at the University of Toronto put on a distinguished public issues forum titled Democratic Legitimacy in Crisis: Are Citizens’ Assemblies the Answer?

Other provinces in Canada, notably Alberta and Prince Edward Island, continue to evince interest in having their own citizens assembly modeled after British Columbia’s and Ontario’s.

A major worry of mine is the proliferating use of the “citizens assembly” term in contexts in which it wasn’t originally used and in which I don’t think it’s appropriate. I would like to see the term reserved for situations when a randomly selected body of citizens has government standing to propose legislation on an issue where elected officials have a direct conflict of interest. However, this may be a quixotic hope.

In general, there seems to be a trend toward convergence between “citizens assembly” and “deliberative opinion poll” terminology. The deliberative opinion poll concept, like the citizens assembly, is based on a randomly selected group of citizens coming together to deliberate on an issue. But whereas a deliberative opinion poll could deliberate on any issue and without government standing, a citizens assembly had a narrowly tailored jurisdiction and was a complement to existing formal government institutions.

Typical of the new citizens assembly usage, the prime minister of British Columbia has proposed a “citizens assembly” to discuss health care policy. A mayoral candidate in the town of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario wants to convene a citizens assembly to deal with government waste. Others want to create a citizens assembly with completely overlapping jurisdiction to an elected legislature.

October 27, 2006

Fourth meeting of Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform (Word, 50KB)

October 26, 2006

Electoral reform Assembly connects with Citizens (Word, 40KB)

October 15, 2006

Expert tells Ontario Citizens’ Assembly members electoral system review is long overdue (Word, 44KB)

October 13, 2006

Expert Panel to Address Ontario Citizens’ Assembly Members (Word, 50KB)

September 29, 2006

Former MPPs to Address Ontario Citizens’ Assembly Members (Word, 48KB)

September 11, 2006

First meeting of Ontario’s first Citizens’ Assembly inspiring and invigorating (Word, 615KB)

Title: Helping boost democracy; Mountain resident eager to serve on citizens’ assembly for electoral reform
Date: September 22, 2006
By: Mark Newman
For the article, click here.
Jennie Stakich enjoys a long walk each day to stay healthy.
Now the central Mountain resident and retired Ontario Hydro employee will have a hand in recommending how Ontario’s electoral system should (if at all) be reformed. Those reforms could lead to a healthier turn out at the polls in future provincial elections.
“It seems quite interesting,” said Ms. Stakich last month after she was named to the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform. Ms. Stakich will represent the riding of Hamilton Mountain on the assembly which features 52 female and 51 members from the 103 ridings across the province.
The assembly’s first meeting was slated to be held in Toronto Sept. 9.
“I’m going to wait and see what transpires at the meetings,” said Ms. Stakich, who added she has no preconceived ideas about how to reform the province’s first-past-the-post electoral system.
Ms. Stakich said the assembly will meet twice a month in Toronto between September and May. A report to the McGuinty government is expected by May 15.
It’s expected the group will consider a variety of options to the current system for electing provincial governments, including some form of proportional representation.
“I’m hoping to make some contribution,” said Ms. Stakich, who has worked federal, provincial and municipal elections in the past as a poll clerk, deputy returning officer and supervisor.
She feels it’s a privilege to serve on the assembly and remains hopeful the outcome will lead to more Ontario residents casting ballots in the future.
“I think more people should get out to vote,” Ms. Stakich said.
The McGuinty government has pledged that any proposed changes to Ontario’s electoral system will be put to a referendum within the government’s current mandate.
Assembly members were randomly chosen by Elections Ontario from the Permanent Register of Electors of Ontario (voters’ list).
Citizens whose names were chosen were sent letters asking if they were interested in serving on the assembly. Those who expressed interest attended a meeting in their area where details about the assembly and the responsibility of its members was explained. From there, those who still wished to serve had their names put in a ballot box for their riding from which one member and two alternates were drawn.

Attention News/Assignment Editors:

Media Advisory – Lieutenant Governor to host reception for the members of The Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform

TORONTO, Sept. 8 /CNW/ – The Hon. James K. Bartleman, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, will host a dinner reception for The Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform at the Lieutenant Governor’s Suite, Queen’s Park, Toronto on Saturday, September 9.

The Assembly is comprised of 103 randomly selected Ontarians and the Chair, George Thomson, who will examine the province’s current electoral system to determine if it should be retained or replaced with an alternative system. Based on what the Assembly hears and learns, it will recommend whether Ontario should keep its current electoral system or change to a new one.

This Assembly process gives average citizens a direct voice in determining the options we have when we vote and how our votes are translated into seats for Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs).

Location: Lieutenant Governor’s Suite, Queen’s Park, Toronto

Date: Saturday, September 9, 2006

Time: 6:00 p.m.

Meeting schedules, Assembly member photos and profiles are available on-line at www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca.

For more information visit www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca

Publication: Toronto Star
Title: Beware citizens’ assemblies on electoral reform: Giving back power to MPPs would solve problems
Date: September 9, 2006
By: Ian Urquhart

For the article, click here.

Ontario is about to take a leap of faith into electoral darkness.

At a lecture hall today on the campus of York University, a “citizens’ assembly” of 103 randomly picked individuals (one per riding in the province) begins its deliberations on proposals for a new way of picking MPPs to fill the seats in the Ontario Legislature.

In a series of weekend sessions, the assembly will spend the next couple of months getting up to speed on the issue before holding public hearings, with the aim of making a recommendation next spring.

The recommendation is to be put to the voters in a referendum, probably coincident with the next provincial election in October 2007.

What the assembly will recommend is anyone’s guess, but bet on a call for radical change from our centuries-old system, inherited from Britain.

Two years ago, a similar assembly in British Columbia recommended a loopy new system called the “single transferable vote,” which hardly anyone understood.

British Columbians were saved from the fate of an incomprehensible electoral system only because the government required a super-majority (60 per cent) for the measure to be approved in a subsequent referendum. The proposal fell barely two percentage points short of that threshold.

(An aside: The Ontario government has not yet said whether a super-majority will be required here. This week, Marie Bountrogianni, the minister responsible for electoral reform, promised an answer to that question in a bill to be put before the Legislature soon after it resumes sitting on Sept. 25.)

The Ontario government says it has learned from some of the mistakes made in B.C., where, among other things, the research director for the assembly was an individual who was already predisposed toward the single transferable vote.

Accordingly, steps were taken to avoid the appearance of bias as the Ontario assembly was put together.

The government appointed as chair a man with impeccable credentials — George Thomson, a former judge and senior bureaucrat. He, in turn, appointed a secretariat headed by Jonathan Rose, a Queen’s University professor of political science with no published record on the issue of electoral reform.

Both men say they are approaching their tasks with their minds open to every possibility, including the status quo.

“We’re talking about the strengths and weaknesses of all systems,” Rose says. “I don’t think it’s a slam dunk that one system will come out ahead of the others.”

Nonetheless, there are reasons to suspect the playing field is already tilted against the status quo.

First of all, the citizens’ assembly itself — culled from an initial appeal for volunteers mailed out to 123,000 Ontarians — is comprised mostly of retirees, part-time workers, students, homemakers and computer nerds looking for some excitement in their humdrum lives (not to mention a stipend of $150 a day).

In quotes supplied for distribution to the media, many of the assembly members talk of their desire to be a part of “making history,” “something that would be groundbreaking,” or “something that could effect great change.”

They won’t make history or break ground by recommending the status quo.

Secondly, the assembly will be advised by a 13-person panel of experts, which, with one or two notable exceptions, reads like a who’s who of advocates of proportional representation.

That is the system whereby candidates run on party lists, rather than in constituencies, and are selected to the Legislature in proportion to that party’s share of the popular vote.

It is the system favoured by most critics of our constituency-based, first-past-the-post system, which has been blamed for a range of calamities, from the Mike Harris regime to the low proportion of women in the Legislature to the declining voter turnouts in elections.

But the proposed cures, including proportional representation (a recipe for permanent minority government), are worse than the disease, and they do not address the real problem in politics today.

That problem is the presidentialization of our system, with power being centred in the office of the premier, and other MPPs, even cabinet ministers, being pushed to the margins.

The solution to the problem is not electoral reform but legislative reform, with ordinary MPPs being re-empowered.

The governing Liberals used to call for legislative reform, when they were in opposition. But now that they are in power, that option has lost its allure.

Meanwhile, they had another one of their ill-advised election promises to keep — the creation of a citizens’ assembly to study electoral reform. Where the process will take us, no one knows.

In recent months citizen assemblies in Ontario and the Netherlands have made great progress. During the summer the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly selected its members and then convened for the first time the weekend of September 10-11, 2006. The Ontario Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat has an excellent website describing these events. The Netherlands, meanwhile, finished its “consultation” phase and began its final “deliberations” stage the weekend of September 1-2. Click here for detailed first person accounts of w hat has been happening in the Netherlands.

Compared to both the British Columbia and Netherlands citizen assemblies, a major distinguishing feature of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly is the large volume of news coming out in its early stages. This difference can probably best be explained by the efforts of the PR office in Ontario’s Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat. This is in stark contrast to the Netherlands, where there appears to be little or no organized PR effort. British Columbia eventually had substantial news coverage but not until it was well underway. It will be interesting to see whether making the citizens assembly members feel like important public personages impacts their subsequent behavior and the appeal of serving in such an assembly.

Attention News/Assignment Editors:

Media Advisory – Innaugural meeting of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on electoral reform

TORONTO, Sept. 7 /CNW/ – The Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform will meet to launch Ontario’s unprecedented exercise in direct democracy in Toronto on Saturday, September 9.

During the next eight months, the Assembly, comprising 103 randomly-selected Ontarians and their Chair, George Thomson, will examine the province’s current electoral system and other systems. Based on what the Assembly learns and what it hears from fellow Ontarians, it will recommend whether Ontario should keep its current electoral system or change to a new one.

This Assembly process gives average citizens a direct voice in determining the options we have when we vote and how our votes are translated into seats for Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs).

If the Assembly proposes an alternative electoral system for the province, the Ontario government will hold a referendum on that alternative, on or before the next provincial election on October 4, 2007.

Location: Moot Court, Room 101, Osgoode Hall, York University (Keele campus) 4700 Keele Street, Toronto

Date: Saturday, September 9, 2006

Time: 9:15 a.m.

Meeting schedules, member profiles, and useful educational resources about the Citizens’ Assembly and electoral systems are available on-line at www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca.

For more information visit www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca

For further information: Media Contact: Barry Koen-Butt, Executive Lead, Communications, Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat, (416) 325-0752, (416) 993-2415

For the link to the press release, click here.

Attention News Editors:

Citizens Appointed to Re-examine Ontario’s Electoral System

Members Of The Citizens’ Assembly On Electoral Reform To Participate In Strengthening Ontario’s Democracy

TORONTO, Aug. 15 /CNW/ – One hundred and three Ontarians will be at the centre of the most ambitious and far-reaching democratic renewal initiative in Ontario’s history, Minister Responsible for Democratic Renewal, Marie Bountrogianni announced today.

“We believe that the shape of Ontario’s democracy is a matter for Ontarians to decide,” Bountrogianni said. “That’s why we’re appointing these members of the Citizens’ Assembly, and asking them to lend their talents, creativity and commitment to this citizen-led process of re-examining our electoral system and recommending possible changes.”

The 52 female and 51 male assembly members, each representing one of Ontario’s ridings, were randomly selected from the Permanent Register of Electors for Ontario by Elections Ontario.

The assembly will operate independently of government. If the assembly recommends a change in the electoral system, that recommendation will be put to a referendum within the government’s current mandate.

“These 103 people are at the centre of the process, but I’m hoping that all Ontarians will take advantage of the opportunities we are developing for them to express their views to the assembly,” said George Thomson, chair of the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.

The first meeting of the Citizens’ Assembly will be held on September 9, 2006.

The assembly will issue its final report outlining its recommendation on or before May 15, 2007.

For more information about the Citizens’ Assembly and its members, go to the assembly’s website at www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca.

“This is democracy in action – a democracy that belongs to the citizens of Ontario, not just their elected officials,” said Bountrogianni.

www.democraticrenewal.gov.on.ca

Today the Secretariat of the Ontario Citizens Assembly Team released its first newsletter describing its activities. I’ve attached a copy of the newsletter below but recommend you link to the newsletter directly. Note the first statistical profile of the selected members of the Citizens Assembly.

Here is the link to the newsletter: http://www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca/en-CA/Whats-New/The%20Ballot.aspx.

THE BALLOT
Welcome to the first issue of The Ballot!

In this issue:
From the Chair
Selection Meetings Complete!
About the Members
The Ballot Box with Dr. Rose
New on Our Site
Contact Us

FROM THE CHAIR
It’s been a busy couple of months, travelling across the province speaking at selection meetings, and getting to know Assembly members. I’ve been contacting members who were selected at meetings I didn’t attend, and look forward to meeting them all in person in September.

I really enjoyed speaking to everyone who attended selection meetings. It was inspiring to see the number of people who took time out of their summer weekends to learn more about the Citizens’ Assembly. I thank you all for your interest and hope you will take advantage of other opportunities to get involved in the Assembly’s activities by visiting the website for regular updates.

On behalf of the Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat, I want to extend my thanks and appreciation to Elections Ontario for managing the selection process so efficiently and with such enthusiasm.

Staff at the Secretariat are hard at work preparing for the Learning Phase, which begins on September 9th. And I’m developing strategies for what I can do, as Chair, to facilitate the important work that Assembly members will do.

–George Thomson

SELECTION MEETINGS COMPLETE!
Teams from Elections Ontario and the Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat spent the end of May and all of June travelling across the province attending meetings to select 103 citizens to form the Assembly. Twenty-nine meetings and 17 cities later the Assembly is complete!

The selection meetings were very well attended. In some cities, members of the public who weren’t candidates for selection attended meetings to observe the process and learn more about the Citizens’ Assembly.

There was a great deal of media interest in the selection process, and many Assembly members were featured in their communities’ local paper. In fact, the Citizens’ Assembly was mentioned in the news almost every day in June. Here are a few examples:

Assembly to review Ontario’s electoral system (Lindsay Daily Post, June 1)

Electoral reform sparks interest (The Toronto Star, June 7)

From refuge to reform: Kingstonian chosen for electoral group (Kingston Whig Standard, June 12)

Residents play role in election reform (The Mississauga News, June 16)

Your chance to alter democracy (The Sudbury Star, June 28)

Read more about the selection process.

ABOUT THE MEMBERS
Visit Meet the Members to see photos and biographies of our diverse members. Learn about their families, occupations, hobbies and why they’re committed to being part of the Assembly. It’s interesting to see how Assembly members’ ages compare to Ontario’s population:

Age Cohorts 18-24 25-39 40-54 55-70 70+
Ontario’s Population* 12% 29% 30% 17% 12%
Citizens’ Assembly Members 11% 22% 31% 24% 12%

*Source: Statistics Canada

THE BALLOT BOX WITH DR. ROSE
In this section, I’ll share an interesting fact or a mini-lesson on electoral systems. I hope you’ll visit The Classroom section of the Citizens’ Assembly website so you can follow along with Assembly members as they learn together.

Since this is the first issue, it makes sense to examine psephology or the study of elections. I thought it might be interesting to examine the word’s roots.

Psephos comes from the Greek term for pebbles, a reference to the early practice of voting using pebbles. Logos, also Greek, means ‘the study of’. Together they form the term ‘psephology,’ meaning: the study of elections.

Fast forward to the way we vote today, using ballots. The term “ballot” comes from the Italian word palla which means ‘ball,’ a throwback to the days when balls were used to record votes—the original ballots!

There’ll be many more facts, trivia and other information in The Classroom, coming soon, on our web site.

Dr. Jonathan Rose is the Academic Director with the Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat and will be leading the learning sessions for the Assembly.

NEW ON OUR SITE
New content is being added to the Citizens’ Assembly website every week. Recently launched areas include:

The Secretariat Team
Get Involved
Media Room
Contact Us

Questions or comments about The Ballot? Send an e-mail to: theballot@citizensassembly.gov.on.ca

Publication: Press Release
Title: George Thomson, Chair of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform Media Availability
Date: June 15, 2006

For the press release, click here.

Attention News/Assignment Editors:

George Thomson, Chair of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform Media Availability

TORONTO, June 15 /CNW/ – George Thomson, Chair of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, will be available to media at Ottawa meetings hosted by Elections Ontario to randomly select individuals to sit as Citizens’ Assembly members. These Assembly members would represent the Ottawa area ridings of Ottawa Centre, Ottawa South, Ottawa-Vanier, Ottawa West-Nepean, Ottawa-Orleans, Lanark-Carleton, Nepean-Carleton, Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke.

MEETING START: 9:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

AVAILABILITY: 11:15 a.m. and 2:45 p.m.

LOCATION: Canadian Salon
Embassy West Hotel & Conference Centre
1400 Carling Avenue
Ottawa ON

www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca

For further information: Barry Koen-Butt, Executive Lead,
Communications, Ontario Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat, (416) 325-0752, (416)
993-2405

Publication: News Release
Title: George Thomson, Chair of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform Media Availability
Date: June 14, 2006

For the article, click here.

Attention News/Assignment Editors:

Media Advisory – George Thomson, Chair of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform Media Availability

TORONTO, June 14 /CNW/ – George Thomson, Chair of the Ontario Citizens’
Assembly on Electoral Reform, will be available to media covering Elections
Ontario meetings to randomly select individuals who will sit as Citizens’
Assembly members.

MEETING START: 7:00 p.m.

AVAILABILITY: 6:30 p.m.

LOCATION: Adironback Room
Ramada Inn & Conference Centre
805 Brookdale Avenue
Cornwall ON

www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca

For further information: Barry Koen-Butt, Executive Lead,
Communications, Ontario Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat, (416) 325-0752, (416)
993-2405

Publication: Press Release
Title: Five Kitchener Area Residents selected for the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly
Date: June 12, 2006

For the press release, click here.

For another related press release, click here.

Attention News Editors:

Five Kitchener Area Residents selected for the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly

TORONTO, June 12 /CNW/ – Five members of Ontario’s first-ever Citizens’ Assembly were selected at a meeting in Kitchener on Saturday.

“I feel passionate about my country, my province and my community. I feel like I can contribute to this process,” said Ron Vankoughnett, representing the riding of Kitchener-Waterloo, who was randomly selected by Elections Ontario to join the historic Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform. The Assembly will consider various electoral systems from around the world, listen to, and consult with fellow citizens before recommending whether Ontario should retain its current electoral system or adopt a new one.

“These individuals will participate in Ontario’s most ambitious exercise in direct democracy,” said George Thomson, Chair of the Assembly, “They will explore questions that are fundamental to Ontario’s electoral system. This is the first time Ontario has engaged citizens from across the province in this way and on a topic of such significance to our democratic process.”

In total five Assembly members were selected at a meeting held in Kitchener by Elections Ontario this weekend including: Elsayed Abdelaal (Guelph-Wellington), Jerrold Labrecque (Cambridge), Bill Ritz (Waterloo-Wellington), Marcia Soeda (Kitchener Centre) and Ron Vankoughnett (Kitchener-Waterloo).

The Citizens’ Assembly will begin meeting in September 2006 and will deliver its recommendations to the government by May 15, 2007. In the event that the Assembly recommends a change to Ontario’s electoral system, the recommendation will be put to all citizens in a referendum within the current government’s mandate.

“Other provinces and countries have been reviewing their electoral systems, but only a few, like British Columbia and the Netherlands, have given citizens such a direct role in the process. The Ontario Citizens’ Assembly is independent of government. It gives citizens – not politicians or experts – the power to decide what our votes should mean when we elect Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs)”, said Thomson. “All Ontarians have a stake in this process and I urge them to start thinking about what electoral system would best suit their needs.”

Elections Ontario used a process of random representative sampling to select Citizens’ Assembly members. Approximately 124,000 letters were mailed out to Ontarians in mid-April, asking them to respond if they were interested in serving on the Assembly. Of the approximately 12,000 people who responded, 1,200 were invited to attend selection meetings where one Assembly member per riding is selected by ballot.

There are nine selection meetings remaining which will be held in eight cities through the month of June. Elections Ontario will present its list of 103 Assembly members to Dr. Marie Bountrogianni, Minister of Democratic Renewal on or before July 14, 2006. For more information on the Citizens’ Assembly, visit: www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca.

For further information: Media Contacts: For information about the Citizens’ Assembly please contact: Barry Koen-Butt, Executive Lead, Communications, Ontario Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat, (416) 325-0752, (416)993-2405; For information about the selection process and meetings please contact: Paula Chung, Communications Officer, Elections Ontario, (416)212-6186, 1-866-252-2152

Publication: Press Release
Title: Elections Ontario to select Citizens’ Assembly members in Peterborough, Kitchener, Kingston and Owen Sound this weekend
Date: June 9, 2006

For the Press Release, click here.

Attention News/Assignment Editors:

Media Advisory – Elections Ontario to select Citizens’ Assembly members in Peterborough, Kitchener, Kingston and Owen Sound this weekend

TORONTO, June 9 /CNW/ – Media are invited to attend selection meetings hosted by Elections Ontario for the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform. This coming weekend, selection meetings will be held in Peterborough, Kingston, Kitchener and Owen Sound to select members from 15 electoral
districts.

For each electoral district, Elections Ontario has randomly chosen 11-13 electors to attend a selection meeting. At the meeting, a representative from the Citizens’ Assembly will give a presentation on the Assembly’s work and the role of the members to help electors make an informed decision about their participation. At the close of each meeting, Elections Ontario will randomly draw the name of one member from each electoral district to form the Citizens’ Assembly.

In total, Elections Ontario will hold 29 meetings in 17 cities to select 103 members to participate in the Assembly. When the selection process is complete, the Chief Election Officer will present the list of names of the 103 members and their alternates to the Minister Responsible for Democratic Renewal, on or before July 14, 2006.

Dates and times of this weekend’s meetings are listed below. The complete schedule can be found on Elections Ontario’s web site at www.electionsontario.on.ca. Media are invited to observe the meetings and will have the opportunity to obtain further information when the meeting has concluded.

————————————————————————-
Location Time Electoral Districts
————————————————————————-
Saturday, June 10, 2006
————————————————————————-
Holiday Inn 9:30 a.m. – Northumberland
Peterborough 11:00 a.m Peterborough
Waterfront Haliburton-
150 George Street North Victoria-Brock
Peterborough
————————————————————————-
Radisson Hotel 9:30 a.m. – Cambridge
Kitchener 11:00 a.m. Guelph-Wellington
2960 King Street East Kitchener Centre
Kitchener Kitchener-Waterloo
Waterloo-Wellington
————————————————————————-
Sunday, June 11, 2006
————————————————————————-
Holiday Inn 1:00 p.m. – Hastings-Frontenac-
Kingston Waterfront Hotel 2:30 p.m. Lennox and Addington
2 Princess Street Kingston and the
Kingston Islands
Prince Edward-
Hastings
Leeds-Grenville
————————————————————————-
Days Inn & Conference 1:00 p.m. – Bruce-Grey-
Centre 2:30 p.m. Owen Sound
950 Sixth Street East Dufferin-Peel-
Owen Sound Wellington-Grey
Huron-Bruce
————————————————————————-

Publication: Brockville Recorder & Times
Title: Local women have a chance to redraw electoral system, p. A1
Date: June 8, 2006
By: RONALD ZAJAC, Staff Writer

About a dozen women from Leeds-Grenville will attend a meeting in Cornwall next week for a chance to be included in the group that might redraw Ontario’s electoral system.

The Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, a $6-million effort spearheaded by the provincial government, aims to examine the system governing how Ontarians elect representatives to Queen’s Park.

Its mandate is to assess the current system and others around the world, then “make a recommendation as to whether we should retain the current system or adopt a new one,” said Barry Koen-Butt, spokesman for the secretariat appointed to assist the assembly once it is chosen.

The McGuinty government has already committed to taking the assembly’s final recommendation, due next May, and putting it to a vote in a referendum during its current term, Koen-Butt said Wednesday in a telephone interview from Toronto.

That means, should the panel recommend changing the system and that recommendation get the backing of the voters, the planned 2007 provincial election will follow the new system, he said.

Discussions of the electoral reform effort have centred on the possibility of Ontario switching to a system of proportional representation. But Koen-Butt said there is more to the assembly’s job than a choice between PR and the current first-past-the-post system.

“They could come up – and probably should come up – with a made-in-Ontario solution,” he said.
Elections Ontario is looking after the selection process for the assembly, which will be made up of 103 randomly-selected citizens – one for each riding.

To ensure gender balance, 52 of the members will be women and 51 men.
At least one member will be Aboriginal.

George Thomson, of Kingston, a former senior civil servant and family court judge, has already been appointed the assembly’s chairman by Ontario Lieutenant-Governor James Bartleman, making it an even 52 for each gender.

In the first step of the subsequent selection process, Elections Ontario chose nearly 124,000 people at random from the province’s Permanent Register of Electors and sent them letters asking if they were interested, said Elections Ontario spokesman Paula Chung.

That resulted in about 12,000 positive responses, which were again whittled down at random to get 11 to 13 candidates per riding, she said.

In order to ensure the gender balance, ridings were designated male or female, to ensure the selected members and their alternates were of the same gender, said Chung.

Koen-Butt confirmed Leeds-Grenville has been designated female, meaning all the candidates are women.
The Leeds-Grenville candidates will head to a regional selection meeting at Cornwall’s Ramada Inn at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 15, where members and alternates from this riding, Stormont-Dundas-Charlottenburgh and Glengarry-Prescott-Russell will be selected, again in a random draw. Other selection meetings will take place across the province until June 25.

The neighbouring ridings of Stormont-Dundas-Charlottenburgh and Lanark-Carleton have both been designated male, said Koen-Butt.

Lanark-Carleton’s representative will be chosen, along with those of three other Ottawa or Ottawa-area ridings, at an Ottawa hotel on Saturday afternoon.

Elections Ontario is not disclosing the names on the lists until after the meetings, said Chung.
The full assembly will meet in Toronto on September 9, said Koen-Butt, adding they will meet about every second weekend at a York University campus from September through November to be brought up to speed on Ontario’s and other electoral systems by Jonathan Rose, an associate professor of political science at Queen’s University.

After that, from November through February, they will hold public consultations, allowing people to make submissions in different formats, including over the Internet.

Assembly members will then deliberate until they produce a final report due on or before May 15, 2007.
The assembly’s meetings will be open to the public, said Koen-Butt.

The government is now drafting legislation to put the assembly’s recommendation, should it call for change, to a provincewide referendum in the current mandate, he said.

That would mean a referendum next year, since the government has also committed to a fixed provincial election date in October 2007.

The province has set aside $6 million for the entire process, covering such things as staff salaries, assembly members’ honorariums and expenses and the assembly’s website, at www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca, said Koen-Butt.

The random selection system ensures the process remains fundamentally democratic, empowering ordinary citizens, said Koen-Butt.

“This is power for the people,” he said. “This is not a Royal commission. This is not a panel of experts.”

Publication: Press Release
Title: Elections Ontario to select Citizens’ Assembly members in Peterborough, Kitchener, Kingston and Owen Sound this weekend
Date: June 8, 2006

For the press release, click here.

Attention News/Assignment Editors:

Media Advisory – Elections Ontario to select Citizens’ Assembly members in Peterborough, Kitchener, Kingston and Owen Sound this weekend

TORONTO, June 8 /CNW/ – Media are invited to attend selection meetings hosted by Elections Ontario for the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform. This coming weekend, selection meetings will be held in Peterborough, Kingston, Kitchener and Owen Sound to select members from 15 electoral districts.

For each electoral district, Elections Ontario has randomly chosen 11-13 electors to attend a selection meeting. At the meeting, a representative from the Citizens’ Assembly will give a presentation on the Assembly’s work and the role of the members to help electors make an informed decision about their participation. At the close of each meeting, Elections Ontario will randomly draw the name of one member from each electoral district to form the Citizens’ Assembly.

In total, Elections Ontario will hold 29 meetings in 17 cities to select 103 members to participate in the Assembly. When the selection process is complete, the Chief Election Officer will present the list of names of the 103 members and their alternates to the Minister Responsible for Democratic Renewal, on or before July 14, 2006.

Dates and times of this weekend’s meetings are listed below. The complete schedule can be found on Elections Ontario’s web site at www.electionsontario.on.ca. Media are invited to observe the meetings and will have the opportunity to obtain further information when the meeting has concluded.

————————————————————————-
Location Time Electoral Districts
————————————————————————-
Saturday, June 10, 2006
————————————————————————-
Holiday Inn
Peterborough Waterfront Northumberland
150 George Street North Peterborough
Peterborough 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Haliburton-Victoria-Brock
————————————————————————-

Cambridge
Guelph-Wellington
Radisson Hotel Kitchener 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Kitchener Centre
2960 King Street East Kitchener-Waterloo
Kitchener Waterloo-Wellington
————————————————————————-
Sunday, June 11, 2006
————————————————————————-
Holiday Inn Kingston Hastings-Frontenac-Lennox
Waterfront Hotel and Addington
2 Princess Street Kingston and the Islands
Kingston 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Prince Edward-Hastings
————————————————————————-
Days Inn Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound
& Conference Centre Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-
950 Sixth Street East Grey
Owen Sound 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Huron-Bruce

Publication: Toronto Star
Title: Electoral reform sparks interest
Date: June 7, 2006
By: Carol Goar

For the article, click here.

He’d like to welcome all 103 members to Ontario’s Citizens’ Assembly personally, but George Thomson, the chair of the new forum, can’t get around the province fast enough.

Every weekend, the former provincial court judge goes to as many selection meetings as he can. He was in London this past Saturday and Windsor on Sunday. Each Monday, he phones all the inductees he hasn’t met.

“People are really excited to have been selected,” he said. “Even when I tell them it’s a commitment of 30 to 40 hours a month, they’re very keen.”

Thomson admits the 50-odd members who have been picked so far are not representative of Ontario’s 8.4 million voters. They wouldn’t have been selected if they hadn’t responded positively to one of the 124,000 letters sent out by Elections Ontario in April. They wouldn’t be giving up 12 weekends of their lives if they didn’t care about the province’s voting system.

Still, the level of enthusiasm surprises Thomson. “Most people don’t wake up in the morning thinking about electoral reform,” he noted wryly. “But we’re getting retirees, homemakers, students, professionals, new Canadians, people with disabilities; it’s a real mix.”

A fair bit has happened since Premier Dalton McGuinty launched the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform in March.

Nine thousand of the randomly chosen Ontarians who were invited to be part of the initiative said yes (112,000 didn’t respond and 3,000 said no). The list was then pared to 15 from each riding. The finalists were asked to come to a selection meeting in their region.

Those sessions are now underway. The participants are briefed on what membership in the Citizens’ Assembly entails — the schedule, the workload, the travel and the public appearances — and asked to put their name in a box if they’re still interested. One ballot is drawn from each riding. By the end of June, all 103 spots will be filled. The assembly will hold its first meeting at Osgoode Hall on Sept. 9 and 10.

Behind the scenes, Thomson has been busy putting together his 15-member secretariat. He has steered clear of experts on electoral reform and recruited individuals who are open-minded, good at explaining complex concepts and eager to assist, not influence, assembly members.

He intends to remain scrupulously neutral. By the end of the nine-month process, Thomson hopes his fellow assembly members will have no idea whether he favours overhauling the electoral system or leaving it alone.

It troubles him that political commentators are already passing judgment on what the panel might conclude, when it hasn’t even met.

Thomson believes the dialogue is as important as the outcome. “What fascinates me is watching people listen and learn before venturing an opinion. Maybe by giving citizens a say in how their votes are translated into seats, we can help rekindle interest in democracy and government. Maybe by giving young people a voice, we can help other young people connect.

“If the assembly decides that the electoral system we have is the best one available, that’s something I’d consider really important.”

Thomson has visited British Columbia to see what Ontario can learn from its experience. Premier Gordon Campbell set up his province’s Citizens’ Assembly in 2003 with a mandate to study electoral systems around the world and figure out which one was best for B.C.

In December of 2004, it recommended a single transferable vote. Under this system, electors rank candidates in their constituency in order of preference rather than picking just one. If their favourite has more than enough votes — or too little support — to be elected, their vote is transferred to their second choice. This ensures that their ballot still counts.

A referendum was held on the proposal in May of 2005. It won the support of 57 per cent of voters — just short of the 60 per cent required to pass.

A year later, members of the disbanded assembly feel a lingering sense of letdown, not because their scheme was rejected, but because the government did so little to help voters make an informed choice.

Many British Columbians went to the polls without understanding what the Citizens’ Assembly was proposing or how it would work.

“Whatever we come up with, it will have to be something that people can easily understand and we’ll have to try to educate people along the way, ” Thomson said. He is optimistic that it can be done and buoyed by the attitude of the citizens who have come aboard so far.

The genial judge never imagined himself doing this. McGuinty’s request came out of the blue.

But now that he is engaged, Thomson is determined to make the Citizens’ Assembly a showcase of democratic decision-making at its best.

Publication: Press Release
Title: Four Windsor Area Residents selected for the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly
Date: June 6, 2006

For the press release, click here.

Attention News Editors:

Four Windsor Area Residents selected for the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly

TORONTO, June 6 /CNW/ – Four members of Ontario’s first-ever Citizens’ Assembly were selected at a meeting in Windsor on Sunday.

“I’m happy to be able to learn and provide whatever assistance I can during this historic process,” said Marisa Squizzato of Windsor, representing the riding of Windsor West, who was randomly selected by Elections Ontario to join the historic Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform. The Assembly will consider various electoral systems from around the world, listen to, and consult with fellow citizens before recommending whether Ontario should retain its current electoral system or adopt a new one.

“These individuals will participate in Ontario’s most ambitious exercise in direct democracy,” said George Thomson, Chair of the Assembly. “They will explore questions that are fundamental to Ontario’s electoral system. This is the first time Ontario has engaged citizens from across the province in this way and on a topic of such significance to our democratic process.”

In total four Assembly members were selected at a meeting held in Windsor by Elections Ontario this weekend including: Tamara Fick (Windsor-Essex), Mary Jane McMullen (Windsor-St. Clair), Marisa Squizzato (Windsor West) and Jean Thompson (Chatham-Kent-Essex).

The Citizens’ Assembly will begin meeting in September 2006 and will deliver its recommendations to the government by May 15, 2007. In the event that the Assembly recommends a change to Ontario’s electoral system, the recommendation will be put to all citizens in a referendum within the current government’s mandate.

“Other provinces and countries have been reviewing their electoral systems, but only a few, like British Columbia and the Netherlands, have given citizens such a direct role in the process. The Ontario Citizens’ Assembly is independent of government. It gives citizens – not politicians or experts – the power to decide what our votes should mean when we elect Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs),” said Thomson. “All Ontarians have a stake in this process and I urge them to start thinking about what electoral system would best suit their needs.”

Elections Ontario used a process of random representative sampling to select Citizens’ Assembly members. Approximately 124,000 letters were mailed out to Ontarians in mid-April, asking them to respond if they were interested in serving on the Assembly. Of the approximately 12,000 people who responded, 1,200 were invited to attend selection meetings where one Assembly member per riding is selected by ballot.

There are fourteen selection meetings remaining and will be held in 12 cities throughout the month of June. Elections Ontario will present its list of 103 Assembly members to Dr. Marie Bountrogianni, Minister of Democratic Renewal on or before July 14, 2006. For more information on the Citizens’ Assembly, visit: www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca.

For further information: Media Contacts: For information about the Citizens’ Assembly please contact: Barry Koen-Butt, Executive Lead, Communications, Ontario Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat, (416) 325-0752, (416) 993-2405; For information about the selection process and meetings please contact: Paula Chung, Communications Officer, Elections Ontario, (416) 212-6186, 1-866-252-2152

Publication: Ontario Free Press
Title: Gran among nine picked to study electoral reform\
Date: June 6, 2006
By CHIP MARTIN, Politics Reporter

For the article, click here.

Nine people of diverse backgrounds have been chosen to represent London-area ridings in Ontario’s first citizen stab at electoral reform.

Included are a grandmother, a garage operator, a disabled artist, a doctoral student and a businessperson.

The Ontario Citizens’ Assembly will look at whether reforms are needed to the electoral system that rewards candidates and parties in a “winner-take-all” system that marginalizes smaller parties.
The assembly will look at whether some form of proportional representation is a better way to go. Recommendations will be put to Ontarians in a referendum next year.

As of today, 66 of Ontario’s 103 ridings have members for the assembly, chosen by lot. The assembly is to meet for the first time in September.

In the 10 London-area ridings, only Huron-Bruce has not chosen a representative. That’ll come June 11 in Owen Sound.

Weekend meetings in London saw the nine assembly members chosen under the watchful eye of George Thomson, a former judge and provincial bureaucrat who will chair the assembly.

Disabled artist Darcie Beckley was chosen to represent Elgin-Middlesex-London.

Beckley, 38, is moving from St. Thomas to London this summer and said she’s thrilled to look at fixing an electoral system that’s flawed and penalizes smaller parties.

“I believe the way we do things in our system doesn’t necessarily represent the people they are trying to represent,” she said. “But I don’t have any particular ideas. I’m willing to learn.”
Beckley said she’s optimistic her coming months of work will be heeded.

“I’m a firm believer that every single person on this planet can make a difference in this world,” she said.
Sarnia garage operator Jim Passingham, a longtime high school shop teacher, said he hadn’t really thought about electoral change until he was contacted at random and told about the assembly.

“It seemed like a learning process that would be rewarding,” said the Sarnia-Lambton representative. “I’m coming in with an open mind. I’ll go from there.”

In London-Fanshawe, Linda Barnum said she’s excited about the work of the assembly and feels suddenly empowered to do a big job.

“I really haven’t been in the political process at all,” she said. “I vote and listen to candidates.”
Of the historic assembly, she said: “It’s nice to participate in something like this. It will be a learning experience.”

Retired career counsellor Peter Soroka of Grand Bend was chosen to represent sprawling Lambton-Kent-Middlesex and he said he looks forward to being part of history “and giving back to the community.”
ASSEMBLY MEMBERS CHOSEN FROM THE LONDON AREA’S 10-RIDING REGION:

Elgin-Middlesex- London
Darcie Beckley
London West
George Dennis
Sarnia-Lambton
Jim Passingham
London- Fanshawe
Linda Barnum
Perth-Middlesex
Lynda Dill
Oxford
Margaret Messenger
London- North-Centre
Catarina Fernandes
Lambton-Kent- Middlesex
Peter Soroka
Chatham-Kent-Essex
Jean Thompson

Publication: Press Release
Title: Twelve Hamilton Area Residents selected for the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly
Date: June 6, 2006

For the press release, click here.

Attention News Editors:

Twelve Hamilton Area Residents selected for the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly

TORONTO, June 6 /CNW/ – Eleven members of Ontario’s first-ever Citizens’ Assembly were selected at three meetings in Hamilton on Sunday. “I’ve voted in every election since I came to Canada and want to be a part of this journey to improve our electoral system,” said Salvacisn Villamil, representing the riding of Niagara Falls, who was randomly selected by Elections Ontario to join the historic Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform. The Assembly will consider various electoral systems from around the world, listen to, and consult with fellow citizens before recommending whether Ontario should retain its current electoral system or adopt a new one.

“These individuals will participate in Ontario’s most ambitious exercise in direct democracy,” said George Thomson, Chair of the Assembly, “They will explore questions that are fundamental to Ontario’s electoral system. This is the first time Ontario has engaged citizens from across the province in this way and on a topic of such significance to our democratic process.”

In total twelve Assembly members were selected at three meetings held in Hamilton by Elections Ontario this weekend including: Rosemarie Arsenault(Hamilton East), Ronald Green (St. Catharines), Stephanie Jones (Niagara Centre), Jon Kristman (Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant), Frank O’Gradey (Hamilton West), Sandra Richter (Burlington), Jennie Stakich (Hamilton Mountain), Leana Swanson (Brant), Susan Tiley (Stoney Creek), John Toll (Erie-Lincoln), Salvacisn Villamil (Niagara Falls) and Jeffrey Witt (Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Aldershot).

The Citizens’ Assembly will begin meeting in September 2006 and will deliver its recommendations to the government by May 15, 2007. In the event that the Assembly recommends a change to Ontario’s electoral system, the recommendation will be put to all citizen’s in a referendum within the current government’s mandate.

“Other provinces and countries have been reviewing their electoral systems, but only a few, like British Columbia and the Netherlands, have given citizens such a direct role in the process. The Ontario Citizens’ Assembly is independent of government. It gives citizens – not politicians or experts – the power to decide what our votes should mean when we elect Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs)”, said Thomson. “All Ontarians have a stake in this process and I urge them to start thinking about what electoral system would best suit their needs.”

Elections Ontario used a process of random representative sampling to select Citizens’ Assembly members. Approximately 124,000 letters were mailed out to Ontarians in mid-April, asking them to respond if they were interested in serving on the Assembly. Of the approximately 12,000 people who responded, 1,200 were invited to attend selection meetings where one Assembly member per riding is selected by ballot.

There are fourteen selection meetings remaining and will be held in 12 cities throughout the month of June. Elections Ontario will present its list of 103 Assembly members to Dr. Marie Bountrogianni, Minister of Democratic Renewal on or before July 14, 2006. For more information on the Citizens’ Assembly, visit: www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca.

Publication: Press Release
Title: George Thomson, Chair of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform Media Availability
Date: June 8, 2006
For the press release, click here.

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2006/08/c7896.html
Attention News/Assignment Editors:
Media Advisory – George Thomson, Chair of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform Media Availability
TORONTO, June 8 /CNW/ – George Thomson, Chair of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, will be available to media covering Elections Ontario meetings to randomly select individuals who will sit as Citizens’ Assembly members.

MEETING START: 9:30 a.m.

AVAILABILITY: 11:15 a.m.

LOCATION: Garden Court
Holiday Inn Peterborough Waterfront
150 George Street North
Peterborough ON

MEETING START: 1:00 p.m.

AVAILABILITY: 2:45 p.m.

LOCATION: Sir John A MacDonald
Holiday Inn Kingston Waterfront
2 Princess Street
Kingston ON

www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca

For further information: Barry Koen-Butt, Executive Lead, Communications, Ontario Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat, (416) 325-0752, (416) 993-2405

Publication: London Free Press
Title: Electoral reform focus of local sessions today
Date: June 3, 2006
By CHIP MARTIN,

For the article, click here.

Ontario’s search for 103 men and women anxious to build a better electoral system comes to London today.

London will host two of 29 regional sessions to select the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly, a body to explore alternatives to the “first past the post,” or “winner takes all” system of election.

The assembly will consider whether the time is right for a system of proportional representation that tends to give a boost to smaller parties but also leads to more minority governments.

Reform of the democratic system is touted as a way to counter decline in voter participation.

One voter from each of the province’s 103 ridings will be selected to take part in a process that will see the assembly convene for the first time in September, then review alternatives and make recommendations by next May. Any changes suggested will go to a province-wide referendum that could revise the system for the 2011 provincial election.

In all, 120,000 voters were originally contacted at random and offered a chance at seats in the assembly.

Morning and afternoon selection sessions will be held at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel for eight London-area ridings. From 10 to 15 persons from each riding are expected to attend. Random choice will be used to select assembly members.

Already, nine assembly members and 18 alternates had been selected at earlier sessions. After this weekend’s meetings in several centres, it will climb to 66 members.

Appointed as chairperson is George Thomson, a former associate dean of law at the University of Western Ontario. Also a judge and provincial associate deputy minister, Thomson says he is committed to ensuring Ontario’s electoral system continues to provide the highest, fairest and most representative form of democracy possible.

“This is pretty historic,” Thomson said yesterday. “This is giving citizens a direct voice about what they would like.”

He said the assembly may ultimately decide no change is warranted or it may agree with the findings of a similar citizens’ assembly in British Columbia that recommended a proportional system of voting. The recommendation there failed to meet a threshold for change required by the government.

Thomson said the idea in Ontario is to rebuild voter interest in elections and ensure legitimacy of the results.

Citizens’ Assembly members have their expenses covered and receive an honorarium of $150 for each of the meetings they attend.

Thomson said the public is welcome to witness the selection sessions today at 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Citizens interested in making submissions to the assembly or attending its sessions are asked to visit its website at www.citizensassembly.gov. on.ca

Publication: Press Release
Title: Elections Ontario selects the first members for the Citizens’ Assembly
Date: May 30, 2006

For the press release, click here.

Attention News Editors:

Elections Ontario selects the first members for the Citizens’ Assembly

TORONTO, May 30 /CNW/ – The Chief Election Officer, John Hollins, would like to announce that Elections Ontario has selected the first members for the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform. This past weekend, Elections Ontario hosted meetings in Toronto and Thunder Bay to begin selecting members for the Assembly.

One member and two alternates were drawn from the 11-13 participants that were randomly selected from each electoral district to attend the meeting. This past weekend, nine members were selected to represent their electoral districts: Beaches-East York, Toronto-Danforth, Don Valley East, Don Valley West, Durham, Oshawa, Pickering-Ajax-Uxbridge, Whitby-Ajax and Kenora-Rainy River.

In total, Elections Ontario will hold 29 meetings in 17 cities to select 103 members to participate in the Assembly. When the selection process is complete, the Chief Election Officer will present the list of names of the 103 members and their alternates to the Minister Responsible for Democratic Renewal on or before July 14, 2006.

This coming weekend, selection meetings will be held in Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton, London and Windsor. Dates and times of this weekend’s meetings are listed below. The complete schedule can be found on Elections Ontario’s web site www.electionsontario.on.ca.

<<
————————————————————————-
Location Time Electoral Districts
————————————————————————-
Saturday, June 3, 2006
————————————————————————-
Holiday Inn on King 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. St. Paul’s
370 King Street West Toronto Centre-Rosedale
Toronto Trinity-Spadina
———————————————–
12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Davenport
Eglinton-Lawrence
Parkdale-High Park
Willowdale
York South-Weston
———————————————–
3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Scarborough-Agincourt
Scarborough-Centre
Scarborough-East
Scarborough-Rouge River
Scarborough Southwest
————————————————————————-
Holiday Inn Toronto West 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Mississauga Centre
100 Britannia Road East Mississauga East
Mississauga Mississauga South
Mississauga West
———————————————–
12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Bramalea-Gore-
Malton-Springdale
Brampton Centre
Brampton West-
Mississauga
Halton
Oakville
————————————————————————-
Four Points by Sheraton 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. London North Centre
Hotel & Suites London West
1150 Wellington London-Fanshawe
Road South Oxford
London ———————————————–
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Elgin-Middlesex-London
Lambton-Kent-Middlesex
Perth-Middlesex
Sarnia-Lambton
————————————————————————-
Sunday, June 4, 2006
————————————————————————-
Holiday Inn on King 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Etobicoke Centre
370 King Street West Etobicoke-Lakeshore
Toronto Etobicoke North
York West
York Centre
———————————————–
3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Markham
Oak Ridges
Thornhill
Vaughan-King-Aurora
York North
————————————————————————-
Sheraton Hamilton Hotel 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Burlington
116 King Street West Hamilton East
Hamilton Hamilton Mountain
Hamilton West
———————————————–
12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Erie-Lincoln
Niagara Centre
Niagara Falls
St. Catherines
———————————————–
3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Brant
Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant
Stoney Creek
Ancaster-Dundas-
Flamborough-Aldershot
————————————————————————-
Radisson Riverfront Hotel 1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Essex
333 Riverside Drive West Chatham-Kent-Essex
Windsor Windsor West
Windsor-St. Clair
————————————————————————-
>>

Elections Ontario is the non-partisan agency responsible for administering provincial elections, by-elections and referenda.

For further information: For additional information about the selection process and meetings please contact: Paula Chung, Communications Officer, Elections Ontario, (416) 212-6186, 1-866-252-2152; For additional information about the Citizens’ Assembly please contact: Barry Koen-Butt, Executive Lead,
Communications, Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat, (416) 325-0752, (416) 993-2415

Publication: The Standard (St. Catharines – Niagara)
Title: Review of electoral system is overdue
Date: May 30 2006
Type: Editorial

For the article, click here.

Publication: The Expositor (Brantford)
Title: Towards fair elections
Date: May 30 2006
Section: Opinion

For the article, click here.

Publication: The Kingston Whig-Standard
Title: Possible electoral overhaul starts at local level
Date: May 27, 2006
By: James Wallace

For the article, click here.

Publication: Press Release
Date: May 26, 2005

For the press release, click here.

Attention News/Assignment Editors:

Media Advisory – Citizens’ Assembly Selection Meetings Begin

TORONTO, May 25 /CNW/ – Media are invited to attend selection meetings hosted by Elections Ontario beginning this weekend for the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform. Over the next five weeks, Elections Ontario will hold 30 meetings in 18 cities to select 103 members to participate in the Assembly.

Elections Ontario has randomly selected 11-13 electors from each electoral district to attend a selection meeting. At the meeting, a representative from the Citizens’ Assembly will give a presentation on the
Assembly’s work and the role of the members to help electors make an informed decision about their participation.

At the close of each meeting, Elections Ontario will randomly draw the names of one member from each electoral district to form the Citizens’ Assembly.

Toronto Meetings
Courtyard by Marriott Downtown
475 Yonge Street, Toronto
Saturday, May 27, 2006

9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Electoral Districts: Beaches-East York, Toronto-Danforth, Don Valley East
and Don Valley West

12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Electoral Districts: Durham, Oshawa,
Pickering-Ajax-Uxbridge, Whitby-Ajax

Thunder Bay Meeting
Valhalla Inn
1 Valhalla Inn Drive, Thunder Bay
Sunday, May 28, 2006

9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Electoral Districts: Algoma-Manitoulin,
Kenora-Rainy River and Thunder Bay-Superior North

The complete meeting schedule is available in the media section of the Elections Ontario web site www.electionsontario.on.ca. Media are invited to observe the meetings and will have the opportunity to obtain further information when the meeting has concluded.

Elections Ontario is the non-partisan agency responsible for administering provincial elections, by-elections and referenda.

For further information: For additional information about the selection process and meetings please contact: Paula Chung, Communications Officer, Elections Ontario, (416) 212-6186, 1 866 252-2152; For additional information about the Citizens’ Assembly please contact: Barry Koen-Butt, Executive Lead, Communications, Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat, (416) 325-0725, (416) 993-2415

Publication: Brampton Guardian
Title: People get a say about government
Date: May 21, 2006
By: Roger Belgrave

For the article, click here.

Recruitment has quietly begun for what may turn out to be a political revolution in Ontario.

Last fall, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal government announced a review of the province’s electoral system– the very mechanism that determines political power. Ordinary citizens are now being chosen to conduct that review that will culminate in a report recommending possible changes to the way political representation is decided at Queen’s Park.

Selection of members to the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform started this spring. The selection process is being conducted by Elections Ontario who will randomly choose 103 people from the registered voters’ list. There will be one person selected from each riding in the province.

In an effort to reflect diversity and equal representation, the membership will be composed of 52 females and 51 males.

McGuinty is asking this group of volunteers to re-examine the current “first-past-the-post” electoral system. Work will include looking at different types of electoral systems– such as proportional representation– and deciding whether it is time to change how Ontario elects its government. The Premier has said the citizens’ assembly will be free to consider all options.

The assembly is expected involve Ontario residents in its review through public meetings across the province and written submissions from the public.

Should the assembly recommend a change, a province-wide referendum will be held on the issue.

Every Ontarian would have an opportunity to vote on whether they want to change the electoral system or continue electing politicians in the same fashion.

Former provincial court judge George Thomson has been appointed assembly chair by the Lieutenant Governor in Council. Thomson is also a former deputy minister in Ontario and federal governments and Law Society of Canada education director.

He is currently the Senior Director of International Programs for the National Judicial Institute.

Selections were scheduled to begin this past April and completed in July. Beginning in September, the assembly members will meet about twice a month for eight months. Their report is due by May 15, 2007.

As the process unfolds, information about local meetings and other details is available online at www.citizensassembly.gov. on.ca.

General information about the process is available by calling 1-866-656-9908 or contact the Citizens’ Assembly Secretariat at 416-325-0758. Questions or remarks can also be e-mailed to info@citizensassembly. gov.on.ca.

This is an opportunity for ordinary citizens to redraw our political system. It is not often that the average voter has a chance to play such a monumental role in changing the rules that decide how political power is determined.

This is the kind of revolution we should all try to play a role in, whether you regularly cast a ballot at election time or you complain about the system and refuse to enter a polling station.

Publication: Press Release from Elections Ontario
Title: More than 120,000 Ontarians targeted in first mail-out for Citizens’ Assembly selection process
Date: April 28, 2006

TORONTO – The province’s Chief Election Officer is mailing more than 120,000 letters to Ontarians this week, asking if they’d like to participate in the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform. This mailing marks an important part in the selection process for the 103 members who will form the Assembly.

Under Ontario Regulation 82/06, the Chief Election Officer must choose 52 females and 51 males from the Permanent Register of Electors for Ontario, of which at least one must be a self-identified Aboriginal member.

“It’s important that Ontarians know that if they receive one of these letters in the mail they must complete and return the enclosed form to Elections Ontario. Responses must be received no later than 4:00 p.m. on May 12 for individuals to be able to proceed to the next phase in the selection process,” said John Hollins, Chief Election Officer.

“By introducing this self-selection step, we have assured the continued confidentiality of information contained in the Permanent Register. Only the names of interested individuals who consent to participate will be entered into the selection process.”

From those individuals who respond that they are interested in participating, 11 to 13 electors from each electoral district will be invited to attend a selection meeting. Selection meetings will be held between May 28 and June 24 at one of 16 regional centres across the province.

A representative from the Citizens’ Assembly will be invited to attend the selection meetings to give a brief overview of the Assembly’s role and to answer any questions that participants may have.

Elections Ontario officials will draw the name of one primary member, as well as two alternates for each electoral district at the selection meetings.

The final list of 103 members and their alternates will be given to the Minister Responsible for Democratic Renewal on or before July 14, after which Elections Ontario’s role in the selection process will be complete.

Elections Ontario is the non-partisan agency responsible for administering provincial elections, by-elections and referenda.

For further information: Elections Ontario Media Centre: (416) 212-6186, 1-866-252-2152, media@electionsontario.on.ca

Media Advisory – Briefing by the Chief Election Officer on the selection process for the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform

TORONTO, April 24 /CNW/ – The Chief Election Officer for Ontario, John Hollins will detail the method being used by Elections Ontario to select the members, and the alternates, to form the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.

When: Tuesday, April 25, 10:00 a.m.

Where: Queen’s Park Media Studio, First Floor, Main Legislative Building, Toronto

Who: John Hollins, Chief Election Officer

What: Overview on the selection process for the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.

Elections Ontario is the non-partisan agency responsible for administering provincial elections, by-elections and referenda.

For further information: Elections Ontario Media Relations:
(416) 212-6186, 1-866-252-2152, media@electionsontario.on.ca

During the past few weeks I’ve found five articles on Ontario’s citizens assembly. The articles demonstrate far less interest in the citizens assembly process than in the merits of proportional representation, which is assumed to be the major issue the citizens assembly will face. These articles tend to be more pro-citizens assembly than the last batch I described here on April 4.

1. A democratic rethink, The Toronto Star, April 16, 2006 Sunday, IDEAS; Pg. D03, 1429 words

2. Accountability issue can be dealt with, Kingston Whig-Standard (Ontario), April 8, 2006 FORUM; Pg. 7, 271 words, Eric Walton

3. hange our unfair voting system, Kingston Whig-Standard (Ontario), April 8, 2006 FORUM; Pg. 7, 620 words, Meikle Turner

4. Chance for change looks hopeful, The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario), April 6, 2006 INSIGHT; Pg. A9, 1072 words, DAVE PINK, RECORD STAFF

5. Hidden dangers in electoral reform, The Toronto Star, April 5, 2006 Wednesday, EDITORIAL; Pg. A22, 479 word

It finally happened: today Ontario’s government announced its citizens assembly.

Here is the official information:

Press Release

http://www.democraticrenewal.gov.on.ca/english/news/20060323_nr.asp

Backgrounder

http://www.democraticrenewal.gov.on.ca/english/news/20060323_bg.asp

Description of the Chair

http://www.democraticrenewal.gov.on.ca/english/news/20060323_chair_bg.asp

Here are some key facts:

1) It starts September 2006 and ends May 2007.

2) Unlike the Netherlands but like British Columbia, it gives the citizens assembly the option of putting its recommendation on the ballot for a referendum.

3) It has 103 randomly selected members, one from each of Ontario’s ridings, with 52 female and 51 male members.

Summary: The article reports on the government of Ontario’s citizens assembly announcement.

Publication: Globe and Mail
Title: Citizens’ assembly to review Ontario electoral system
By: TERRY WEBER
Date: March 27, 2006

For the article, click here.

Summary: Ontario is expected to soon announce its detailed plan for a Citizens’ Assembly—and it may differ in significant ways from what was implemented in British Columbia.

Publication: Toronto Star.

Title: Liberals should heed all sides on electoral reform
Date: Nov. 28, 2005
Author: Ian Urquhart

For the article, click here.

Summary:  Critics of Prince Edward Island’s voting reform referendum point to the Citizens Assemblies in Ontario and British Columbia as a reform model.

To read the article, click here.

Publication: CNEWS
Title: Critics Attack Prince Edward Island Voting Reform Rules
By: Chris Morris
Date: November 26, 2005