For the past few weeks I have been researching and writing about the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform. I did some outreach and have so far found 13 Ontario political science academics who agree:
“The Ontario Citizens’ Assembly was an exceptional example of a legitimately democratic public policy development process.”
I also wrote a brief summary of the OCA, a detailed evaluation of their process, a press release and an op-ed. But I doubt any of the hundred press contacts I sent to will do much with it. The media does not seem interested in how unique the referendum recommendation process was and that it set a precedent for deliberative democracy in Ontario.
I’ll follow-up after the election when the referendum most likely fails to get the necessary 60% approval. I’ll see if I can grow a coalition of people to say that the OCA is a great model we should reproduce for other policy questions – without the referendum requirement.
Contact me to get involved.