Although the referendum we'll be voting in on 10th October will be of historic and critical importance it's interesting to ponder its repercussions on the leaders' debates.
Currently, leaders' debates consist of leaders who have representation at Queen's Park. Supposing this remains the same, how would the debate change after four years of an MMP-elected Parliament? I think it would change in a couple of ways:
1. First, although tonight's debate was somewhat civil and easier to follow that other debates of late, traditionally these debates have been nasty, noisy, and generally uncivil. I believe that under MMP the leaders would see an advantage in being more civil and gentlemanly with each other because they realise they have to co-operate with each other after the election. Tory wouldn't rail against McGuinty because he would know that in a minority situation he would want McGuinty to pass some of his policies. Hampton would be slow to paint Tory in too bad a light since he may need his help on several bills in the subsequent Parliament.
2. Green Party leader Frank de Jong would be added to the equation if his party obtained the necessary 3% threshold and elected MPPs. How would the debate change with him in the fray? I think we would have definitely heard about the MMP referendum at least once or twice. None of the other leaders brought up the referendum in the debate but I somehow suspect de Jong would have seeing that it is of capital importance to the future of democracy in Ontario as well as for the future of the Greens. De Jong held his own parallel debate here.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
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