TORONTO - Ontario voters will be free to make up their minds when it comes to electoral reform without any influence from the government, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday.

The Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform, which is deliberating whether there's a better way to elect politicians, is studying a system called mixed member proportional.

Under such a system, voters mark two ballot boxes -- one for a local representative and one for a political party.

The group of 103 randomly-selected citizens will vote next weekend on whether the new system should be presented to the public in a referendum question on Oct. 10, election day.

While the Liberals haven't yet formulated an official position on electoral reform, they wouldn't try to influence the voting public in the run up to the election, McGuinty said.

"I think it's really important that the people of Ontario know they have a completely free hand in making a determination as to the best system they want,'' McGuinty said.

"I'll live with any arrangement chosen by the people I work for.''

Supporters of the proportional system say it would usher in a more fair, inclusive process that would make the popular vote better reflect the distribution of seats in the legislature and help introduce more women and minorities to government.

It would also let people choose which party they want to run the province, while still being able to support another party to represent their local riding.

New Democrat Michael Prue studied the impact of reform in countries that adopted the proportional system. He found the number of female representatives in government went through the roof immediately after the changes were made.

"The best examples that I saw were Wales and Scotland. With the advent of (mixed member proportional) they went from about 10 or 15 per cent representation in those respective parliaments to one at 48 and one at 52 per cent,'' he said.

"We have never had an aboriginal person elected to this legislature. It would be an opportunity for all parties to support and have people ... representing those communities.''

McGuinty applauded the work of the citizens' group and said he welcomes the final decision by the voting public.

"(The citizens' group) may in fact come up with a recommendation that Ontarians at large consider an alternative system,'' McGuinty said.

"I have every confidence in the people of Ontario to make the right call about whether or not they want to hang onto their existing system... or they may choose to exchange it for another.''

Prue said he's not confident the system will change, even if the public supports it.

The government wants at least 60 per cent support for electoral change, a standard Prue said proves the process has been set up to fail.

"It is disgraceful ... the 60 per cent (threshold) is an exercise to ensure whatever they recommend does not happen,'' he said, pointing out that most other referendums in the province and the country only sought a 50 per cent plus one majority.