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OPINION When the polls open across Ontario on Wednesday (Oct. 10) more than four out of every 10 registered voters will not cast a ballot. Roughly translated, that means about 3.5-million Ontarians will not exercise their democratic right to vote. While its a shame, its hardly surprising. Neither of the last two provincial elections could motivate even 60 per cent of us to get out and help choose the next provincial government. Its virtually impossible to pinpoint what or who is to blame for this apathy. Perhaps some of us have become so cynical of politicians and the political process that we opt to tune it all out. Or maybe the downward trend is symptomatic of our home and work lives becoming so unbelievably busy that some of us find we have no time or energy left over to cast an educated vote. Only once in the last 30 years has provincial voter turnout even come close to attaining 65 per cent. This happened during the great protest vote of 1990 when the Bob Rae-led New Democratic Party steamrolled its way to 74 of a possible 130 seats, leaving the Liberals and Conservatives in their dust. That year 64.4 per cent of us made our voices heard. While this years election is shaping up to be a Liberal/Conservative showdown theres been no indication that even a 60 per cent turnout is likely. It will be interesting to see if Wednesdays refer- endum to decide the future of the provinces elec- toral process will have any bearing on how many people decide to vote. While the optimist may view the chance to decide the way we fill the provincial legislature as an extra incentive to head to the polls, the pessimist may conclude the whole MMP issue is confusing, frustrating and one more reason to stay away. While casting your two votes on Wednesday wont change Ontario overnight, not voting guaran- tees that you will have had no influence on what happens in this province after Oct. 10. 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Second Class Mail Registration Number 6869. The Independent & Free Press is a member of The Canadian Community Newspaper Association and The Ontario Community Newspaper Association. Steve Nease THE INDEPENDENT & FREE PRESS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear editor, I will be voting against the referen- dum question regarding MMP (true meaning Make More Politicians). I do not agree with appointed politicians to represent our commu- nity. Our politicians should be voted in by the community at large and from our community. Fringe parties completely fright- en me. We have seen in Europe as many as 20 parties on one voting card. The electorate now is having problems with four or five candi- dates. Let us not forget about the number of lawn signs. In Italy you have a new government every 10 months and even an elected pornog- raphy starlet from the fringe party system. In Belgium it has been close to a year without a working government since the different parties cannot agree on a coalition. In The Netherlands there is a fringe party that is pro-pedophilia! Does this mean that the first-past- the post system is perfect? No, it is not. If we want candidates to have more than 50 per cent of the vote then why not do what we currently do for political party leadership and candidate races? The least amount of votes gathered by a candidate means that candidate is dropped from the race and we vote again until one can- didate has more than 50 per cent, plus one vote. Granted, this will take more time and a lot more money. We also can- not forget this could create more voter apathy. However, MMP will just create more politicians who will not be from our own riding but probably from Toronto, and we already see how much Torontonians care about our region. These are just some of the reasons I will vote for first-past-the-post and against MMP in the upcoming referendum. Peter Jonkman, Georgetown MMP = Make More Politicians, says reader Letters to the editor must include an address and daytime telephone number. Unsigned letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 200 words and may be edited for content and/or length. Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 29, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1 E-mail: jmcghie@independentfreepress.com Something bugging you? 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Phone: 905-873-0301 Fax: 905-873-0398www.independentfreepress.com Dear editor, With all the discussion about the mixed-member proportional (MMP) referendum vote, not much has been mentioned about the cost to Ontario taxpayers if the proposal is approved. Going from 107 Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) to 129 will result in 22 additional MPPs salaries, 22 additional pensions, additonal Queens Park offices, assis- tants, assistants offices, home riding offices and all the benefits that go with the jobs, at a cost of millions of dollars to Ontario taxpayers. The underlying philosophy of MMP has much merit, but the specif- ic system proposed this time, in the current referendum, in my view is much too expensive as compared to the potential benefits we may derive from it. Peter Scholz, Limehouse Dear editor, Your Oct. 3 editorial states,Martin Lavictoire (Green), Noel Duignan (NDP) and Giuseppe Gori (Family Coalition Party) offer the same unap- pealing ideas we have heard before from their parties. I fail to understand why you label the NDP and Green platforms unap- pealing. As I write, our temperature is 10 degrees warmer than average and our region is suffering a shortage of rainfall, verging on drought. The Green Party is the only one that gets the severity of our ecological crisis and has policies that begin to address it. Traditionally, the NDP is there to speak for ordinary working families and the disadvantaged. What is so unappealing about a $10 mini- mum wage? Unappealing perhaps to comfy citizens who have bought into the sta- tus quo, but worth a close look by an increasing number of us who care about the fate of the Earth and the growing gap in the numbers between haves and have nots. Joan Cornfield, Georgetown 6 Independent & Free Press, Friday, October 5, 2007 Greens and NDP arent unappealing Taxpayers cant afford MMP