By Meagan Kelly
Electoral reform was the issue that brought some heat to the discussions at an all-candidates debate for Ottawa Centre on Sunday.
The seven MPP hopefuls made typical promises for most of the meeting held at the Churchill Seniors Centre in Westboro. It appeared there would not be an issue to distinctly divide the candidates until the debate about the referendum on electoral reform began.
“One of the most important pressing matters is the question of electoral reform and changing the system to one that will give us better government,” said Greg Laxton of the Green party. He studied electoral systems for seven years.
Under the current system, a party does not necessarily have to win the majority of votes to get the majority of the seats in the legislature. Ontarians can now vote whether they’d like to change to a mixed member proportional system (MMP).
Constituents would be given two votes, one for a local candidate, and another for a party. The share of votes a party receives determines the share of seats it gets in the legislature. If there are not enough candidates elected in local ridings to fill those seats, the party fills the empty ones with candidates from a list it made before voting day. Those party lists are made public before the election.
The back-and-forth discussions started with PC candidate Trina Morissette. She drew applause after she raised her voice in opposition to MMP and list candidates.
“The only accountability they will have is to the party and to no one else,” said Morissette.
Laxton insisted that although the lists are created by the party, they are still democratic.
“It encourages all of us as citizens to join a political party if we’d like to be able to participate in the process of list creation.”
Laxton added that MMP’s list candidates allow some voters who did not choose the elected representative in their riding to have someone they did choose representing them at Queen’s Park.
Meanwhile, a surprise appearance from Mayor Larry O’Brien turned heads and brought some excitement to an issue that was not quite as contentious as electoral reform: municipal funding.
“It is clear that the funding model has broken down in Ontario,” said O’Brien, concerned that growing municipalities such as Ottawa have too many responsibilities and too little revenue options.
The candidates were in basic agreement, with several calling the funding formula a “one size fits all approach.” Almost all the candidates promised to upload services to Ontario, with the only debate stemming from exactly which services to upload and how.
Will Murray, the NDP candidate, promised to upload more responsibilities, including disability insurance and related drug benefits. He also promised a two-year freeze on transit fares.
“I think it’s only fair the cities have fair and stable funding so they can plan ahead,” said Murray.
Liberal candidate Yasir Naqvi said he would go further and look at more collaboration between the two levels of government. “We need to come up with a good funding structure for every specific capital project,” he said.
Meanwhile, Stuart Ryan said the Communist party would upload health, education, and transit to the province. He also advocated that municipalities be given constitutional status.
Some of the popular issues for constituents towards the end of the debate were regarding the environment, such as public transportation and emissions.
Gregory Butler, a Centretown resident, expressed concern over a lack of transportation between cities outside the GTA. He said buses and trains don’t come enough times, or go enough places.
“I can’t really justify owning a car because anything I want in the city I can walk to,” said Butler. “But how do we travel outside [the city]?”
Murray promised that an NDP government would take over for half of public transportation costs to help solve this problem.
“If we’re serious (about the environment) then we have to make it easier to live lives without cars,” said Murray.
Naqvi’s commitment to the environment included a promise to reduce emissions by 15 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.
But Morissette pointed to the Liberals’ already broken promise on that front.
“We cannot forget that in 2007 coal burning plants were supposed to be closed . . . they’ve already said they are going to leave them open to 2014,” said Morissette.
Independent candidate Richard Eveleigh said he would require food grown using pesticides be marked and sometimes taxed to help pay for OHIP costs.
Surprisingly only three candidates brought up the increasingly popularized election topic of funding for religious schools. Only candidates from the Green party, Communist party, and the Family Coalition of Ontario spoke directly to the issue.
Laxton and Ryan advocated a single public school system, while Danny Moran of the coalition didn’t see the issue as black and white.
“I don’t see why we can’t fund religious schools without the public schools system deteriorating,” said Moran.