Brampton mayor faces new obstacles as rivals move to change voting rules
Bramptonguardian.com
Jan. 26, 2016
By Peter Criscione
With the balance of power on council now almost completely out of her hands, Mayor Linda Jeffrey could be forced to drastically alter her political playbook as rival councillors push ahead with changes to municipal voting rules.
Councillors are expected to approve an amendment to the city’s procedural by-law that requires “any motion made for reconsideration to be put forward by a member on the prevailing side.”
Currently, council members on either side of a vote may ask to reopen an issue. It requires a notice of motion and a two-thirds majority decision.
Proposed changes to the rules aim to significantly limit a council member’s ability to resurrect debates on key issues.
Brampton council broke into factions early on in its mandate, leading to stalemates on important items. The change, some city hall observers suggest, could force greater collaboration from a mayor who has been relegated to a minority position on council.
“To date the Mayor has not shown any evidence of building consensus on any issue - it takes energy, passion and solid facts to bring council together on an issue,” said veteran regional councillor Elaine Moore, who proposed the change to voting rules. “It's a lot of heavy lifting - and councillors are not elected to just vote on an issue because the mayor wants them to. There's a lot of work and earning of trust for this to happen now.”
Mayor Jeffrey may be popular with voters (a Forum poll commissioned by The Guardian last November had her at 59 per cent support), but her leadership style has rubbed a few of councillors the wrong way.
The mayor, a former provincial Liberal cabinet minister, has been heavily criticized for attempting to run her council like a party whip.
The result has been a series of lost votes for the mayor and an awkward dynamic around the council table where the outcome of key decisions now rests firmly in the lap of veteran councillors.
Jeffrey can usually count on the support of just three, maybe four, votes on an 11-member council.
“We have seven new members of council and we were trying to gel, so we’re still a work-in-progress,” Jeffrey told The Guardian at last week’s New Year’s levee event. “I believe we’re on the right track and doing things we should do.”
Jeffrey scored political points last week after opting out of Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s trade mission to India.
The mayor said more pressing issues, like the city’s university bid, outweigh the need to make a sales pitch for Brampton abroad.
But some council observers contend Jeffrey opted to stay home to keep tabs on her fractious council.
With relations on council so sour, the mayor’s rivals would argue repairing relations at home should take priority.
“This council of 11 members has six political neophytes, and a Mayor that is fresh from an 11 year stint at the province, and who made no secret right out the gate that she wanted all former members of council gone. This wasn't the best messaging to the four returning members of council,” Moore said.
“If I were to give mayor Jeffrey some advice, I would first suggest that she herself build a relationship with each member of council and not have all communication done through her staff. This style may work at the Province but it doesn't work municipally with a council our size.”
Critics of the proposed change to the procedural by-law argue it’s an affront to local democracy because councillors will be forced to vote strategically rather than based on the wishes of constituents.
Changes to voting rules could certainly alter the mayor’s voting strategy as she already famously demonstrated during the controversial Hurontario-Main Street Light Rail Transit (HMLRT) vote last October.
Jeffrey stunned many, including fellow councillors, when she voted Oct. 28, 2015 to kill any chance of mass transit connecting to the downtown despite her aggressive, months-long lobbying effort to put the LRT up Main Street.
The mayor, considered a shrewd political tactician, banked on proposed changes to the city’s procedural by-law to ensure another shot at reopening the LRT decision.
In a bizarre twist, though, while council had approved the committee recommendation, the actual amendment wasn’t yet made official.
Council could approve the new rules as early as this Wednesday (Jan. 26).
With the old rules still in effect, Jeffrey’s miscalculation on the HMLRT vote only succeeded in putting her in an awkward position with supporters - including some council colleagues. Following the 7-4 decision, many criticized Jeffrey for abandoning a transit option she championed.
