New report offers ideas for shaking up civic electoral system
The report weighs the pros and cons of electoral mechanisms including ranked ballots, the size of councils and the potential for civic political parties, which in practice aren’t possible in Ontario.

TheStar.com
Oct. 18, 2017
Sabrina Nanji

A new report highlights how city halls inherently stamp out fresh voices — but a fairer system may be far off if the powers that be are the ones in charge of fixing it, the author says.

The Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance study — released this week, roughly a year before scheduled municipal elections in Ontario and other provinces — weighs the pros and cons of electoral mechanisms that could make city councils more reflective of the citizens they represent.

That includes swapping the current first-past-the-post system for ranked ballots — which the Ontario government recently allowed for its 444 municipalities, but which only London will enact for 2018. The report also examines the size and makeup of city councils and the potential for civic parties.

“There really isn’t an easy answer,” said study author Aaron Moore, an associate political science professor at the University of Winnipeg and a fellow at the institute.

One concern is that municipal systems favour incumbents over new candidates, Moore said. Incumbents tend to win at the local level, not least because of name recognition. In Toronto, for instance, about 90 per cent of councillors seeking re-election win back their seat.

That also means sitting councillors get a disproportionate amount of campaign funding and support.

“The local who’s who usually want to back the winner and the incumbents are usually the only ones anyone’s familiar with,” he said, adding media coverage in Toronto tends to focus on the high-profile mayoral race, leaving less space for races in each of the 44 — soon to be 47 — wards.

“Even if (voters) don’t really like the councillor they have, its difficult for the majority of individuals to identify one candidate to get behind and support to get rid of the existing incumbent,” Moore said.

That problem may be more pronounced in the 416 — his research suggests Torontonians like their local representative, but also dislike council as a whole.

“There’s a disconnect there,” he said.

The report suggests several changes for boosting diversity and efficacy at city hall — including fighting for the right to a party.

While not technically illegal in Ontario, municipal political parties aren’t possible in practice because there aren’t mechanisms allowing candidates and supporters to raise campaign funds for a party — that can only be done for individuals.

A civic party system could, for instance, allow a slate of newcomer candidates with a shared platform to co-ordinate resources and run a campaign that rivals that of an incumbent.

But the public is usually turned off by the idea, the report said, perceiving politicians of putting the needs of the party ahead of constituents.

Political parties also make concerted efforts to recruit diverse candidates — and partisan councils in Montreal and Vancouver have more women politicians to show for it.

According to the report as of May, 42 per cent of Montreal councillors are women and 50 per cent of Vancouver councillors are women. That figure is higher compared to non-party systems — Toronto council is 38 per cent female, Winnipeg’s is 27 per cent and Calgary’s is 14 per cent.

Size also matters.

Larger councils can increase access to city hall, bolster diversity and voter engagement, and even be more responsive to the interests of people living in poverty, as smaller wards give certain neighbourhoods a greater voice, the report said.

The downside is bigger councils have a tougher time achieving consensus. If Toronto — which is among Canada’s largest councils — adopted a party system, Moore said decision-making would be smoother, as certain parties adopt specific platforms and policy.

“Just look at the transit file and how long its taken the city to come to any final conclusions about what they want to do. A big part of that is the fact that you have this large council and a mayor who has very limited ability in influencing the council to make a decision,” he said.

Moore’s report also dissects ranked ballots, an idea that garnered much buzz at Toronto city hall last year but was ultimately shot down. London is the only Ontario city that will use a ranked ballot in the 2018 election. Kingston will put the question to voters in a referendum.

Advocates for ranked balloting argue it prevents mayors and councillors from being elected with less than a majority of the popular vote, eliminates vote-splitting and reduces the urge to vote strategically.

But Moore said it’s a conflict of interest to ask politicians to rejig the very system that brought them there.

“There’s a tendency for whoever’s in power to support whatever system got them in power or certainly ones that they think will sustain them in power,” he said.

Proponents of ranked ballots have suggested a non-partisan citizens assembly would be better suited to steering the debate.

Toronto Mayor John Tory is reviewing the report, spokesman Don Peat said.

“He has long been supportive of people getting engaged and involved in their city,” he said, noting the mayor has supported ranked ballots. “He does believe it would help open up elections.”