A number of provinces are looking at electoral reform, including Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec. In fact, Ontario's system uses information from Quebec.

The interesting thing is that it is possible (and not too far fetched) that may end up in a situation where Quebec votes to go proportional at the provincial level, and votes to oppose going proportional at the federal level using the identical voting system. (Wouldn't that be interesting?)

The biggest hurdle that Canada faces in upgrading its electoral system is Quebec. Any changes towards proportionality will lessen the power of Quebec in relationship to the rest of Canada. It's going to be one massive hurdle - perhaps impossible to negotiate. Quebec is definitely quite protective of its power within confederation. It already feels like a second class province, and to some extent there is a feeling in the rest of Canada that it is a spoiled brat. Personally, I am more sympathetic to Quebec.

Well we aren't there yet at the federal level. We may be at the provincial level.

Just a couple of examples of Ontario election districts to give an idea of current disparities: Timmins/James Bay with 71,645 people

and Davenport (Toronto) with 111,705 people You can't even see this riding on the top map.

(stats from election ontario, pictures from wikipedia)

Referendum legislation has been introduced that if passed, would enable Ontarians to have their say if the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform recommends a change to the province's electoral system. If the legislation is passed and the Citizens' Assembly recommends a change, the government will hold a referendum in conjunction with the next provincial election in October 2007 so that all voters can decide.

Rumour has it that we may have a shot at

The citizens' assembly, which has been charged with studying how provincial elections are decided, voted overwhelmingly in favour of changing to mixed member proportional voting.

http://www.wmtc.ca/

It is a rather complicated system that is close to proportional, but not true proportional. It combines aspects of first past the post with aspects of proportional representation with the extra seats coming from ridings where candidates did not win but did relatively well - and to make it even more confusing the province would be divided into regions and this all would be applied in a regional way... There is also a 5% minimum that I assume would not apply to all first past the post seats.

Lots of possibilities, lots of details up in the air...

It believes the system should be understandable to the public. Simplicity may include how easy it is for voters to use the ballot and to understand the election results.

I'll believe it when I see it on the ballot as a referendum, and that referendum is passed. 60% - I'm looking for this info and can't find it now... anyway - still I can hope for my vote finally counting in at least provincial elections.

What would this do to Ontario Politics?

Currently we have three main political parties. The Conservative Party - right wing - perhaps like a "left wing" republican party, The Liberal Party - plays the left and right wing off each other in order to try to win the government, and the NDP - almost always the bride's maid - but one it managed due to strange splits in three candidate voting to manage win - and has not yet recovered from the bad press/performance that it got during that time.

(The standard joke of the time goes as follows: Bob Rae - the provincial premier - was out with his dog at the cottage. He decided to play fetch with his dog. He took a stick and tossed it out into the lake. The dog proceed to trot on top of the water, fetched the stick and brought it back. There was a reporter who was with Bob Rae. He was amazed. He quickly phoned up some colleges. Soon there was a gaggle of reporters watching. Bob Ray would toss the stick into the lake. His dog would trot over the water, and fetch the stick. The headline on the next day's paper was "Bob Rae's dog can't swim.")

Historically we have had the big blue machine (conservative) managing to create dynasties. Lately things have been more up in the air. My guess is that the Liberals stand to be the big winners - along with a lot more coalition governments - and yes the Liberals are currently in power. The New Democratic Party is hopeful that they will get more seats - as they almost always get less than their percentage of the vote. In fact left wing voters are rather "principled" and there is a left wing dissatisfaction with the NDP. This may translate into enough votes for a left wing split - far left and liberal left. Even so, the NDP may still pick up seats.  Communists really don't have a hope in hell of getting anything - especially with a 5% cut off. The Green Party has something to dream about - 5% may be just doable - especially if they can set themselves up as what the NDP splits into. Given the current state of provincial Greens - radical economic ideas combined with traditional green style environment there is certainly a chance of this happening. (The Federal Green Party on the other hand sounds like they only have meaningful policies on environmental issues - though they seem to believe otherwise - at least that was my impression from the members meeting I attend.) The Conservative Party is the interesting question. Would it split into a far right, liberal right section? If so we might end up in a situation where the far right was effectively frozen out of power, along with the far left, and a series of governments combining mostly right centre, but also centre left.

And best of all - there is a possibility that my vote would actually mean something.