Why I don’t like the upcoming referendum

I received some information about the upcoming Ontario election scheduled for this Autumn, and it reminded me why I'm not happy about the referendum that will be included. The referendum is mostly about whether Ontario should continue with a first-past-the-post system, or change to a mixed member proportional system. Now, I'm all in favour of proportional representation. I think it gives a fairer representation of the people's desire than a first-past-the-post system, and it allows a broader mix of parties in the Legislative Assembly.

Here's how it's supposed to work (from Elections Ontario):

In each electoral district, one vote would be used to elect a 'Local Member' using a First-Past-the-Post system. The candidate with the most votes in an electoral district wins.

The other vote would be for a political party. Votes for parties will be used to determine the number of 'List Members' each party gets. This is the proportional representation part.

Sounds pretty good, right? You get to vote for a local member, and there are some extra seats that are selected by popular vote. Well, here's the thing. There are 90 seats to be selected as local members, and 39 seats to be selected as list members. That's a total of 129 seats, which is almost as many as the 130 seats that existed before the PC Party was elected in 1995. The Legislative Assembly current has 103 members. So, if this measure were to be implemented, an additional 26 seats would be added to the house. After the latest pay raise voted in by the Legislature, a member of provincial parliament (MPP) earns a salary of $110,575 per year, before benefits. Over a four year term, this change would cost over $11,000,000 in salary alone! There are also additional costs in benefits, expenses and pensions for the additional members.

So, we are left with a choice between the existing system, which doesn't give a fair representation, or a proportional system at the cost of millions of dollars. If we vote against a proportional system, how likely is it that we will be asked again? If we vote for it, how likely is it that the number of members will return to the level that we see today?