Upcoming Provincial Election

I feel the contents of this article are worth reflecting on:

A MESSAGE TO VOTERS IN ONTARIO

A provincial election will be held in Ontario on October 10, 2007. The ballot will also include a referendum question on a proposed new voting method to be used in the province.

As important as is the election determining who will run the province for another four years, perhaps the referendum question is of even greater importance because of its long lasting impact on both democracy and the pro-life/pro-family cause.

The referendum question will ask: which electoral system should Ontario use to elect members to the provincial legislature?

The existing electoral system (first past the post) i.e. the party which receives a simple majority forms the government, or

An alternative electoral system, called the Mixed Member Proportional Vote (MMP).

The MMP system is used in Germany and, more recently, in New Zealand. (See REALity March/April, 2007 "Voters Beware Manipulating the Voting System").

It is the proposed MMP procedure that causes us grave concern because if implemented it will not only undermine the democratic process, but will also negatively impact the pro-life/pro-family cause.

What is the Mixed Member Proportional Vote?

This voting system will produce two classes of politicians: those elected by the voters (90 MPP's) and those appointed by the political parties (39 MPP's). That is the 129 seats in the province of Ontario legislature will be divided between those elected by the 90 individual ridings, while 39 seats will be chosen by the political parties, according to the percentage of votes each party obtains in the election. Those appointed by the parties will obviously adhere to the party's ideology because their appointment will be dependent on it. Consequently, these MPP's will not be interested in the views of the public or any of their lobbying efforts because such concerns will be irrelevant to them as their role will be to support their party's policies only.

The political partys' lists are expected to alternate male and female candidates and provide a "balance" based on such attributes as gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc. As a result, even though there may be a superficial diversity such as in appearance, i.e. gender or colour, creed, etc., among the appointed MPP's, there will be no diversity in regard to the political views of these appointees.

The MMP system is the dream of the small parties, which is why the NDP and Green parties are pushing it. Any party with 3% of the popular vote will get a chance to be part of a coalition with the larger parties. Not surprisingly, the MMP system usually leads to more political parties. For example, before MMP was introduced, New Zealand had two parties, it now has six parties.

In the MMP system, political elections are usually followed by weeks of closed-door deal making among parties to form a government - exactly the reverse of what happens after the first past the post elections, where the results are immediately announced.

A result of this secret deal making is that it creates unstable coalitions to form a minority government - inevitable with this voting system, often with a brief shelf life. The latter is one of the reasons why Italy, which has had proportional representation since World War 11, has just experienced its 62nd government and is now looking at ways to return to the more stable first past the post voting system.

The greatest beneficiaries of MMP, apart from the small parties, will be feminists, homosexuals and other special interest groups, as the major parties will certainly place them at the top of their list for appointments to the legislature. For example, parties constantly bemoan the lack of women in the legislature. However, it is not the gender of a candidate that matters to the voters, but rather, his/her perspective on issues. Feminists, as part of a special interest group, have worked long and hard for the introduction of the MMP voting system, knowing that it will strengthen their voice in government since they will be assured of appointments to the legislature by the major parties. The MMP system neatly by-passes the inconvenient fact that voters base their votes on the candidate's views and platform, rather than on gender.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has stated that in order for the referendum to pass, it must have 60% approval from the votes cast. Therefore, it is very important to the pro-life/pro-family cause that the referendum NOT receive the required 60% approval rate.

[Source: "REALily" - a publication of 'REAL Women of Canada' (www. realwomenca.com) ..... an excellent conservative pro-family organization.]

Cancer

I'd appreciate your continued prayers and encouragement for Matt Murray. Matt is a 34 year old guy in our church who just discovered that an aggressive form of cancer has returned to his body. As few months back he had surgery and thought his previous battle with cancer was over. You can add comments to encourage him at the end of this post.

Refugee sponsorship

Last week the elders of the church agreed to enter into a new area of ministry for our church that reflects our core values of reaching out to and serving our community. As of this week we have partnered with World Vision Canada to become a sponsoring church for refugees who are seeking religious and social freedom in Canada.

Our first act of sponsorship has been to offer ourselves as the sponsoring body for a Christian Iraqi family living in Syria who have been forced out of their country due to death threats by militant Islamists. Their family here is able to support them but need a church to agree to officially sign as their sponsors. Eventually we'd like to see this ministry develop into a more hands-on initiative whereby we would fully sponsor a refugee family - including covering all their expenses for a one year period and helping them integrate into Canadian society.

I am very proud of the elders of our church for the compassion and interest they have demonstrated in this awesome ministry opportunity! As with our recent sponsorship of the African Children's Choir on Sept 5-7, refugee sponsorship positions us well to extend the love of Christ, in tangible ways, to a world increasingly skeptical of those who adhere to biblical Christianity. While we are very much concerned about proclaiming truth regarding the eternal matters of heaven, hell and salvation, we are also very much committed to living Christ-centred lives by alleviating the suffering that others experience through acts of social justice.

Praise God for the chance to be used in ways like this!

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from
the world." James 1:27