Proportional Representation sucks. Full stop.

This matter has been debated ad nauseam on Canadian blogs, but it deserves unlimited mention due to its importance. The introduction of proportional representation in Ontario, to any extent, is wrong. Politics is never a one-man game, however the relationship between a representative and his/her constituents is a sacred bond that PR severs.

First off, PR puts all the political power in the hands of the party apparatchiks, who reward obedience to their whim by assigning candidates to higher positions on the list. Parties demand a degree of ideological consistency among their members and candidates, but PR is the starting point of dictatorships within the various parties that fight the elections. If progress is driven by the difference of opinions and debate, the connection between PR and the degradation of politics is plainly evident.

Secondly voters have the right to know who they are voting for. They have the right to quiz the candidate and make their decision based on the candidate's merits. PR takes the candidate's individuality away in favour of a general and frequently insipid platform, designed to address some major issues, leaving local issues to sort themselves out somehow.

Which leads me to the third argument against PR. A representative is the voice of the people that vote for him/her. Many local issues need a hand (or a reminder) from the central authority to be addressed, such as road by-passes to ease congestion. With the current system, a local candidate has to be aware of local issues and bring them to the attention of the institution he will belong to if elected. In a proportional system it is unrealistic to expect tens of candidates from the same party to agree on a list of local priorities since they probably won't feel any attachment to any particular district anyway.

Italian politics has been marred by PR since its inception, making it a mediocre political system that reeks so much you can smell it a mile away. Ten years of first-past-the-post didn't help either, since smaller parties didn't just vanish. Instead, they formed coalitions with larger parties and demanded to have candidates fielded in safe districts in exchange for their support.

PR culture is like a cancer: you can't cure it. Don't let this kind of junk into Canadian politics, or the consequences will be felt by our descendants as well.