All candidates will be democratically selected - even Tory admits it

Good news for Ontario democracy this morning. Because John Tory has now basically admitted that should MMP come into effect, his party will democratically select their province wide members.

In a recent interview with the National Post, Tory admitted the PCs will likely find a democratic way to develop its list of candidates." Quoting him directly:

“The history of our party is that the party insists on choosing its candidates democratically. Even the notion that the leader would appoint candidates is something that has been not well received when it’s come up.”

Also, in the news today, the Green Party of Ontario outlined its plans for selecting its provincial candidates. Quoting Frank DeJong:

"Under MMP, voters will expect each party to select its list candidates in an open and democratic fashion. We are committed to using a transparent and equitable process to produce a slate of qualified Green candidates who accurately reflect Ontario's diverse population."

Since Howard Hampton has already committed the NDP to a democratic candidate selection process, that just leaves Premier McGuinty to clarify how he thinsk his party should select its province-wide candidates.

McGuinty deserves credit for starting the Citizens' Assembly process, but I must admit I find myself agreeing with Tory when he says:

“He started this process. I would have thought that by starting it, he obviously was recognizing some need for change — why else did he start it?” Mr. Tory asked, adding that Mr. McGuinty want to “have it all ways.”

“For him to start the process and then express no opinion at all is another abdication of leadership….He’d like to have everybody think he’s on their side, because that’s politics as usual for Dalton McGuinty.”

We don't even need to hear your opinion on MMP itself Dalton, just do like the other leaders and commit to democratic candidate selection - that would take a big (and false) weapon out of the arsenal of the opponents of democracy.

Vote for MMP calls out Tory on his misinformation

It's great to see the Vote for MMP campaign hitting back at PC leader John Tory - the most prominent politician working to defeat democratic progress in the October 10 MMP referendum.

First, on Monday, the group called for Tory to ask for his name to be removed from list of opponents of democracy on the main pro-status quo website. Even more importantly, they called for him to assure voters that he would respect the results of the referendum should MMP prevail:

"It is regrettable that Mr. Tory's name is being used to sway voters one way or another in this important referendum," said Mr. Anderson. "When this process commenced, the Legislature was very wise to have placed redesign of Ontario's antiquated electoral system beyond the self-interest gamesmanship of competitive partisan politics. It would be a shame if today partisan politics are allowed to lower the level of thinking on this important matter in the way they unfortunately do on so many issues."

"We encourage Mr. Tory to have his name withdrawn from the anti-MMP website, and to state clearly to voters that their decision will be respected.

On Wednesday, Vote for MMP challenged Tory to commit to democratic nominations for PC list candidates should MMP come into effect next election, after Tory again intimated (erroneously) that list candidates would be appointed under MMP by telling Canadian Press that "I think the whole notion of having
appointed people may be heading in the opposite direction that we should".

Vote for MMP campaign chair Rick Anderson challenged Tory to commit to democratically selecting PC list candidates:

"We certainly agree with Mr. Tory that appointed candidates have no place in the province's legislature," said Rick Anderson, chair of the VoteForMMP Campaign. "No one is proposing that there be appointed candidates under MMP - unless Mr. Tory is intending that Conservative party province-wide list candidates would be selected in this undemocratic manner."

Most advanced democracies have moved toward some kind of more
proportional system, as the Ontario Citizens' Assembly has recommended
Ontarians adopt.

"In all countries where MMP is used, parties use democratic processes to nominate their list candidates - just as in Canada today the parties use democratic processes to nominate riding candidates," said Anderson.

"Mr. Tory's remark stands to confuse and mislead voters on the matter of whether candidates will be democratically nominated. Is he saying that the Conservative Party will not select candidates democratically? Is he accusing the other parties of this? Is he advocating that Ontario's Elections Act specify how parties select candidates, a matter heretofore left to parties in the expectation they will proceed democratically?"

It's a shame that the media hasn't pressed Tory to clarify these obvious questions when he trots out that lame talking point about appointed MPPs. Hopefully, now they will.