We get asked a lot of questions at the Students' Assembly.

"What's this about?"
"Why are you doing this?"
"What's it going to change?"
"Why involve citizens?"

These are each good and worthwhile questions and we've all spent a fair bit of time trying to sort through some answers. So, we've decided to post a fictional interview and ask ourselves publicly some of the questions we've heard. We do think this is a special, even historic moment in the province's political evolution – we hope our responses can be at least a partial window onto that moment.

Okay, just to get this straight: You want to decide whether our electoral system is still serving the best interests of Ontarians?

Yes. That's about right.

And so you're supplementing the work of the government's Citizens' Assembly with a parallel process for high school students?

Basically the idea is that today's high school students are tomorrow's voters and they will soon inherit our current system or any new system that is proposed. You needed to be of legal age -- 18 -- to participate in the Citizens' Assembly. We created a Students' Assembly so that young Ontarians would also have a say.

That's nice -- but doesn't this seem like a lot of work. Wouldn't it just be easier to ask a bunch of politicians or political scientists what to do?

Maybe you're right. I'm sure convening a small group of academics would have been easier. Cheaper too. The Citizens' Assembly is a pretty elaborate and costly process. The Students' Assembly doesn't cost much, but it is complicated. We have a five day conference to run for 103 select students and we have to get materials out to another 10,000 Ontario high school students who will be participating in their classrooms. It's our job to ensure that each of them has a balanced and constructive experience learning about what can be a complicated topic.

So why bother?

Well, in many ways this is an important experiment and an issue like electoral reform -- where politicians, through no fault of their own, find themselves in a conflict of interest -- makes a perfect test case.

But why try to involve so many people?

Because any democratic system needs to enjoy legitimacy and people are more likely to support a system they understand. They're much less likely to support or understand a system that has been designed without their input or involvement.

It's an important distinction that's often overlooked, but both the Citizens' and Students' Assembly are as much exercises in public learning as they are exercises in public decision-making.

Has this been tried anywhere else?

Sure. Most recently in British Columbia where a larger Assembly proposed a new electoral system called BC-STV. It went to referendum, nearly passed and will be voted on again at the next provincial election. But one of the problems with the BC Assembly is that few people knew enough about its work.

The Students' Assembly in Ontario is, in part, a response to BC's experience. Not only is it a great way to get young people talking about their democratic system -- its a great way to start an even bigger public conversation between young people and their parents.

By creating the Student's Assembly, we're helping to build public capacity and public knowledge which can help support a more meaningful conversation about the province's electoral options.

So what are the long term implications?

Well, Ontario could have a new electoral system or we could renew our confidence in the system we have. Either way, it's no bad thing -- after all, our electoral system was inherited from the British. We've been so busy building a society that since 1792 we've never really paused to ask whether the system we have is the one best suited to our needs and values. And of course, life in Ontario today is radically different from life in Upper Canada some two hundred years ago.

But, it's also tempting to argue that the bigger implication here is simply the use of a Citizens' Assembly. It's possible that all the people talking about the prospect of a new electoral system are actually missing the real story.

What do you mean?

The creation and use of a Citizens' Assembly could signal an important shift and its impact could, in time, be as significant and radical as the creation of the very first legislatures. That might sound a bit strong but we should remember that this is the first new democratic institution that has been introduced into our political system in a very long time. Its possible that occasional Assemblies could come to play an important role in helping to set and build consensus on big-picture, long-term public goals.

In an age when the public is increasingly uncomfortable with partisanship and political representation, Assemblies are an interesting mechanism for randomly selected citizens with few vested interests to briefly convene on a single topic -- much like a jury.

Of course, we shouldn't get carried away. Assemblies are fundamentally complementary institutions. Because they're issue-specific, its relatively easy for assemblies and legislatures to co-exist, much like the House of Commons and the Senate in our federal parliament.

...to be continued.