My take on MMP: Lists (pt 2)

Following my first take on list MPPs and my views on minorities, I'll take another stab at some stuff I've heard about List MPPs, this time focusing more on what they do (or don't do) after they get elected.

List MPPs are responsible to nobody but the party.

My take: Can't really argue too much with this, and it is a minor downfall, I will say. One of the major factors of current MPs is to follow the wishes of the people who elected them. And if they go against the wishes of the people, they will have to step up and explain their decisions the next time. If I don't feel my current MP represents me, I won't vote for them next time. I would really have to think that most of the list my party puts forward doesn't represent me to vote against them. If the top 4-5 people on the Liberal list are all anti-abortion, and I'm pro, then I have to think whether it's worth it to vote against the party on that. I may have to think that the top 4 will get elected regardless, but then my vote for the party is hoping to get numbers 6 and 7 elected, who represent me exactly. Or if every second person on the Liberal list doesn't represent me, do I vote for them? While this may sound bad, it's hard to say how much this will really affect stuff.

List MPPs will have no constituency, and thus won't have to deal with constituency work.
List MPPs constituencies are the entire province. They have the LARGEST constituency!

My take: These are some points that I've heard, and I agree and disagree with both. I do think that the matter of constituency work will have to be dealt with (I'll elaborate more on it later on when I examine the problems of dropping to 90 riding seats), but I can't judge too much, since I've never worked in a constituency office, I'm not positive how much the constituency business really affects everything. I hear some MPs and MPPs really do a lot about constituency work, probably as much as phoning up people with birthdays or stuff like that, and for some, I hear they really don't care too much about them. I do think not having as much constituency work could be both a blessing and a curse (see my next points), but overall, another weak point in the proposed system. I do hope that the List MPPs will take up some of the slack, but it could backfire if they only care about their local ridings, and we would end up with some ridings with effectively 2-3 MPPs, and some with just one. Alternatively, the "List MPPs represent the whole province" is again both true and false. While in some respects it is accurate, and they rely on the whole of Ontario to elect them, they really aren't representative of anyone as much, since it would end up being that the party will end up being responsible to everybody, while the individual List MPPs won't have to deal with as much.

Since List MPPs will have no constituency work, they have an unfair advantage in having more time to act on other stuff, like their re-election.
Since List MPPs will have no constituency work, they will be able to work on some longer-term items that require more time.

My take: Again, without knowing what the impact of constituency work is, I can't judge too much. While it would be VERY unfair for a List MPP to be elected, and then spend all the time that the regular MPP is working on one person's immigration case to be going door to door in the riding campaigning for the next election, they also may be able to take that time to spend more effort on committees, and to actually be able to plan forward.

List MPPs will be a second tier of members, and will be forced to act like the Senate.

My take: Another interesting point. Unless if a specific MPPs was "appointed" to the List to represent a specific demographic group, I don't see how easily they will be able to justify voting against their party's position. Especially since I'm not versed in what happens if a List MPP got kicked out of their party, what would happen to them? I don't know, but if they got replaced with the next person on the party's list, that would be a tremendous whip on them. On the other hand, if they sat as an independent, what does it mean to have a List MPP as an independent? Then they really represent nobody, and everything gets very interesting.

With the extra time, and since they don't have to face tough riding or nomination battles, List MPPs could be a real collection of specialists in their fields.

My take: I put this out, since this is an argument I aspire to. Far be it from me to be able to praise parts of the US electoral system, but I do think that one of their (theoretically) best aspects is that their cabinet ministers are not elected members. Sure, Bush has singlehandedly slaughtered most illusions that the system can be used for good, but as a whole, it could be useful. Since I heard a speech by Larry Page, founder of Google, give a talk about how many US representatives had technical degrees. I believe the number was somewhere less than 10, out of ALL governors, senators, members of congress, etc... We are very under-represented. And we're also not overly personable overall (as the old joke goes: How do you know a mathematician is extroverted? When he talks to you, he looks at your shoes and not his), so it could be tough for us to get elected. But if a party could throw a few people to represent the research and technology sectors onto the lists, they could really bring a new voice to parliament, and may actually know why it is absolutely critical to spend more more on innovation projects, which aren't generally the sexiest funding projects.
On a similar note, since they don't face the electors, they can also think ahead. I know there are tons of things that suck in the short term, but really are the right thing to do long-term (especially to do with the environment. Sure, it sucks to have people lose their jobs, but keeping the dirty, polluting plant open is worse for us overall. And if I represent the riding where that plant is located, no way will I get re-elected after closing that plant). Not directly having to say to someone, "Please, trust me that you being unemployed now is the right thing for the country!" allows me the privilege to do that without knowing that I will be losing my job next time. Having a few people like that might be good overall.