Greg Deighan, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and Chair of the Standing Committee on Legislative Management, announced today that the Committee will be placing an advertisement seeking applications from those Islanders interested in serving as a Commissioner on Prince Edward Islander’s Electoral Future. Deighan stated that, “This is a unique opportunity for any Islander interested in serving on this historic commission to come forward and let their name stand and to directly participate in a very important decision for all Islanders – specifically, the method in which we choose our elected members to represent our interests in the House.”
The eight-member Commission, to be known as the Commission on Prince Edward Island’s Electoral Future, will be appointed by a Committee of the Legislature and asked to:
-develop and conduct a public education program to increase awareness of the present “first past the post” electoral system and an alternate mixed-member proportional system as discussed in the Report of the Prince Edward Island Electoral Reform Commission;
-develop a clear and concise plebiscite question on which electoral system Islanders prefer; and
-recommend when a plebiscite on this matter should be held.
The Commission will be comprised of eight members as follows:
-a Chair, as selected by the Standing Committee on Legislative Management;
-one person from each of the four federal electoral districts on Prince Edward Island (Cardigan, Egmont, Malpeque and Charlottetown), as selected by the Standing Committee; and
-one representative from each of the three political parties registered for the 2003 Provincial General Election.
“The Commission will have a great deal of important work to do,” said Deighan. “Islanders are well aware of how our present electoral system works but are much less familiar with the details of a mixed-member proportional system where some members are elected in the traditional “first past the post” system in constituencies and some members are selected from a list created by political parties and elected based on the percentage of popular vote received by the party. Systems like this are in operation in other jurisdictions, but it will be up to Islanders to determine if a change in the way we elect Members is needed for PEI.
“Former Chief Justice Norman Carruthers put in a lot of work into this matter and has presented the options very well in his report, “2003 Prince Edward Island Electoral Reform Commission Report” (available online at www.electionspei.ca).
“It will be the Commission’s responsibility to explain our present electoral system and the mixed-member proportional option to Islanders, to come up with a clear and concise plebiscite question on which system Islanders prefer and to recommend to the Legislative Assembly when a plebiscite should be held. This is certainly going to be challenging work and will require the commitment of each and every person selected to serve on this historic Commission.”
For additional information on the work of the Commission, please contact the Office of the Clerk, Province House, 902-368-5970.