Electoral reform still alive on P.E.I.

Proportional representation has been presented to Canadians as an alternate electoral system in three provinces and rejected every time, but some on P.E.I. want to give it another chance.

'When parties get beaten down, opposition parties, they have a hard time recovering to contend for power.' — Ivan MacArthur

The most recent province to reject electoral reform was Ontario, which voted against it Oct. 10 as part of its provincial election. A mixed-member proportional system was rejected in a P.E.I. plebiscite two years ago, but a group that includes people from both the yes and no campaigns has come together to keep the issue of electoral reform alive on the Island.

Group member Ivan MacArthur led the no campaign, but says thatalthough he was against the proposal in the plebiscite, there is still a need to address P.E.I.'s history of lopsided election results. Only two of the last seven elections in the province have returned an opposition with more than four members.

"I think a number of people, including myself, would have concerns about that related to accountability of government," said MacArthur.

"One of the problems is when parties get beaten down, opposition parties, they have a hard time recovering to contend for power, and so we tend to end up with three-term governments."

Citizens Assembly proposed

MacArthur's group is putting together a proposal to establish a citizens assembly, one that would be randomly chosen and constituted to represent voters across the province. This assembly would develop a new plan for electoral reform for the province.

The group is holding a workshop later this month to fine-tune its proposal. Then it'll send it along to the provincial government.

During the last election, the Liberals promised to have another look at electoral reform. After the Liberal victory, Premier Robert Ghiz reiterated that his government would look at electoral reform, but said it wasn't a high priority.