Toronto: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation today reacted to Premier Dalton McGuinty's announcement of the Ontario government's Democratic Renewal Initiative. The initiative includes the establishment of a citizens' assembly and a citizens' jury to consider changes to Ontario's method of electing representatives as well as changes to political spending and contribution limits.

"We are pleased that the government is undertaking this initiative, but we have several concerns about how it will proceed", said CTF Ontario Director Tasha Kheiriddin. "If it follows the same formula as the government's pre-budget consultations, where citizens were only presented with the options the government wanted them to consider, it will not be a truly democratic exercise. Citizens must be free to examine all options for reform."

Notably absent from the announcement today was any mention of legislation to recall MPPs. Such legislation has existed for a decade in British Columbia, where it has been successfully, if sparingly, used to discipline MLAs. The only resignation to date has been MLA Paul Reitsma in 1998 who quit in response to a recall petition before a byelection was held.

"Recall legislation is an important tool to hold politicians accountable to voters between elections," stated Kheiriddin. "Yesterday, Opposition Finance Critic Jim Flaherty introduced a Recall Bill as a private member's bill. The government should support this proposal and include it in its Electoral Initiative. A commitment to electoral reform is an all-or-nothing proposition; selective reforms would be little more than window-dressing."

Among the bills which are included in the Initiative is Bill 84, the Fiscal Transparency and Accountability Act, which the government claims "would require the Finance Minister to release a pre-election report about Ontario's finances to the provincial auditor for independent review before an election." Responded Kheiriddin, "This bill is a toothless tiger. Read the fine print - sections 10 and 11 do not compel the Finance Minister to release a report, and allow him a huge opt-out provision for failing to provide it. Further, such a report would only be based on assumptions and estimates, and would be no different than a standard Economic Update which is already available to voters."

Finally, Premier McGuinty stated that if the assembly recommends an alternative to the first past-the-post electoral system, the government will hold a referendum on that alternative before the next election. "It is highly ironic that the Premier is announcing his intent to hold a referendum on electoral change, the very week he is in court over his failure to hold a referendum on the Health Tax," said Kheiriddin. "Does he feel justified consulting the electorate only when its suits his purpose "