Significance
The Assembly process is premised on the idea that average citizens can come together to make good decisions on various policy issues by means of deliberating these issues. In particular, it is seen as a good method for studying electoral reform as politicians face a fundamental conflict of interest when it comes to evaluating the system that elects them.
The Ontario vote is considered crucial also by advocates of Canadian federal electoral reform because the adoption of proportional representation in Canada's most populous province would provide impetus for reform and practical Canadian evidence on how proportional systems respond to voters. The referendum results and the way the referendum process was conducted stand as a warning to future attempts at electoral reform.
Read more about this topic: Citizens' Assembly On Electoral Reform (Ontario)
Famous quotes containing the word significance:
“For a parent, it’s hard to recognize the significance of your work when you’re immersed in the mundane details. Few of us, as we run the bath water or spread the peanut butter on the bread, proclaim proudly, “I’m making my contribution to the future of the planet.” But with the exception of global hunger, few jobs in the world of paychecks and promotions compare in significance to the job of parent.”
—Joyce Maynard (20th century)
“Politics is not an end, but a means. It is not a product, but a process. It is the art of government. Like other values it has its counterfeits. So much emphasis has been placed upon the false that the significance of the true has been obscured and politics has come to convey the meaning of crafty and cunning selfishness, instead of candid and sincere service.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“The hysterical find too much significance in things. The depressed find too little.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)