I was just amazed that 33% of Canadians said they want to keep the penny. To me it is a complete no-brainer to get rid of it. It costs apparently $130 million dollars per year to keep them in circulation, the mint makes almost 1 billion new pennies per year at a cost of $0.008 per penny (several millions of dollars). As I said, the nickel nowadays is worth as much as the penny was in 1972. So keeping the penny nowadays is as stupid as introducing a 1/5th-of-a-cent coin in 1972. How many would people have wanted that?

No, I was implying that those who voted against it were totally uninformed and perhaps voting for “no change” rather than voting for anything at all. A certain percentage of people look at two issues, weigh the facts and evidence for either choice and make a decision based on the real merits of both. Another percentage of people choose to not think about the real underlying merits of either choice and so are only left with the choice of going with something “new” or “old”.

Clearly with MMP you thought about it before voting “no” but I think you should read the reports prepared by the Citizen’s Assembly on the MMP system proposed for Ontario.

1) The list candidates are accountable to the voters who elected them. In Germany, for example, 90% of the list candidates ran locally. See page 13 of “Description of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly’s MMP System” under “Dual Candidacy.”
2) If you read those two documents you will not find any details that are “to be determined later.” If you do find something let them know. The whole point of the Citizens Assemblies in BC and Ontario were to come up with a system in its entirely, rather than having a referendum asking for FPTP or “something else TBD/TBA later”.
3) See page 14 of “Description of the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly’s MMP System” under “Threshold.” In a perfectly “fair” system the threshold in Ontario would be 0.78% (the value of one seat), however, the made it even higher to prevent what you describe.
4) The new system is apparently a hell of a lot better. The Citizen’s Assembly in BC voted 93% in favor of ditching the old system. The CA in Ontario voted 84% in favor of ditching the old system.

I was happy to vote against the MMP solution offered for a couple of reasons:
1 ) Accountability: In an MMP solution, the “reserved list” candidates are only held accountable to the party - they don’t even have to run for office. Sure, the “public” can hold the party accountable at the next election, but that can be 4 years away.
2 ) Incomplete: There were many details of the MMP solution that were “to be determined later”.
3 ) Minority governments: It would almost guarantee persistent minority governments with “regional” or “fringe” parties diluting the seats.
4 ) Is it better?: The solution doesn’t really seem that much better than the current FPTP. Why change for the sake of change? (Uh oh, I’m a nostalgist after all!)

From a broader perspective, there was no real campaign in Ontario one way or the other. Sure, we had the “Get out and Vote” and “Know the question” campaigns, but noone stood up to champion either solution.

When there is such apathy about an issue, the incumbent usually wins (FPTP).

Are we nostalgic? Sentimental?

Nope, we just weren’t offered enough incentive to change.

PS: What’s this got to do with getting rid of the penny? Nothing. I support the idea. I just took your comment personally.