About
A Process Like No Other.
What Is the Citizens’ Assembly?
The Assembly is independent of government. It is made up of 103 randomly-selected citizens – one from each of Ontario's electoral districts. With the Chair, 52 of the members are male and 52 are female. At least one member is Aboriginal.
Together, Assembly members will examine Ontario’s electoral system – the system that structures how votes get combined to elect Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs).
The Assembly’s work will be led and facilitated by George Thomson, an educator and former judge and deputy minister, who was appointed by the government.
Members of the Assembly were selected at random by Elections Ontario from the Permanent Register of Electors for Ontario. Every registered voter was eligible to participate, with a few exceptions, such as elected officials.
The selection process began in April 2006 and was completed in June 2006.
What Will the Assembly Do?
Beginning in September 2006, members of the Assembly will meet about twice a month for eight months.
Together, they’ll examine our current electoral system and learn about other systems. Then, they’ll consult with the public through meetings and written submissions. And then, depending on what they learn and hear, they’ll recommend either keeping our current electoral system or adopting a new one.
That recommendation will be outlined in a report due by May 15, 2007.
If the Assembly recommends making a change to Ontario’s current electoral system, the government will put the question to voters in a province-wide referendum by October 2007.
How is this site covering the Assembly?
TVO is partnering with community colleges across the province to provide complete coverage of the process.
Starting February 17th, 2007 Students from Seneca College's broadcast journalism and television arts programs will again be providing video streaming of the Assembly's deliberation meetings as they go about coming up with a recommendation and producing their final report.
Students from 17 community colleges across the province also provided blog and video coverage of the Assembly's many consulation meetings as they toured the province.
Also fully archived is last fall's education phase. Seneca students contributed video member profiles, blogs and near gavel-to-gavel coverage of meetings as the Assembly members learned about different electoral systems from around the world.
The Agenda with Steve Paikin
Think Again
