Does Toronto need to set term limits for city councillors?

Thestar.com
Jan. 2, 2020
Francine Kopun

One of Toronto’s new councillors is trying to jump-start a movement to introduce term limits, which would prevent elected officials from serving for decades, as has happened in the past.

In his first months as a newly elected city councillor, Brad Bradford tabled motions for staff to report to council with options for term limits, in order to start a discussion about the issue, Bradford said.

The motions failed to get enough support from fellow councillors.

“Toronto has an incumbency problem and in order to get more diverse voices onto council we have to overcome that,” says Bradford (Ward 19, Beaches--East York).

Bradford cites the political advantage enjoyed by incumbents as the chief reason for term limits -- the name-recognition factor gives them an advantage over newcomers, who must struggle to get the attention of voters.

Toronto’s incumbent re-election rate was 97 per cent in 2014 and 85 per cent in 2010, according to Bradford, who favours a three-term limit, as does Coun. Jennifer McKelvie (Ward 25, Scarborough--Rouge Park).

McKelvie has said publicly that she will not run for more than three terms.

Bradford and others argue that under the new 25-ward system -- brought down from 44 wards in the last term, as a result of changes introduced by Premier Doug Ford -- it’s harder than ever for newcomers to gain footing because there is more ground to cover in each ward, more people to convert and more money to spend in the process.

Coun. Shelley Carroll believes the issue is too nuanced for a simple answer.

For example, many U.S. cities, including New York City, have set term limits for councillors, but they run on a party system. Under such a system, a councillor facing a two-term limit must continue to work hard during the second term because the party would have a succession plan, and the councillor wouldn’t want to discredit the party by doing a bad job, says Carroll (Ward 17, Don Valley North).

But without a party to keep them honest, would all councillors in their second term work hard, knowing they don’t have to worry about whether they’ll be elected again?

“What’s the check-and-balance for the final four-year term of a term-limited councillor?” Carroll says. “Why in heaven’s name should he answer the phone? We can say because he wants to create a legacy, but will 100 per cent of them have that same passion to create a legacy? Probably not.

“The other thing is, we have glaring examples in the history of the city of Toronto where fantastic things happened because there were no term limits,” says Carroll, citing the revitalization of Regent Park.

“There is no question we would not have achieved what we achieved in Regent Park if Coun. Pam McConnell hadn’t been there for a long time. That was a 20-year file.”

Coun. Stephen Holyday (Ward 2, Etobicoke-Centre) believes term limits would discourage a wide range of people from running for office, in particular people in mid-career. He asks whether someone would leave a thriving career for a job that would last eight years at best.

“I fear that term limits may bias the spectrum to collect those who are at the beginning of their life or career, or those that are more senior or at the end of their career, and there’s certainly room for those people on council, but we shouldn’t have a polarized spectrum,” Holyday says.

Several councillors told the Star there is already a term limit measure in place and it’s called voting.

“I support the term limits imposed by the electorate when they vote someone out of office,” said Coun. John Filion (Ward 18, Willowdale).

Coun. Mike Layton doesn’t support term limits either, but he’d like to see other reforms that would increase the diversity of voices and perspective at council. He thinks increasing the number of councillors again would do that and so would ranked ballots.

“I don’t believe in limiting democratic rights off those seeking to serve their community,” Layton says.

Coun. Paul Ainslie (Ward 24, Scarborough Guildwood), one of the councillors who says elections are a form of term limits, says he plans to move a notice of motion asking for term limits for councillors appointed to agencies, boards and commissions, including the library, TTC and Hockey Hall of Fame.

As it stands now, citizen appointees are limited to two terms, while city councillors can be reappointed after an election and sit on a board indefinitely.

“In terms of good governance, I do not think this is equitable,” says Ainslie.

Coun. Ana Bailao (Ward 9, Davenport) also supports term limits, but she believes the length of the term should be determined via consultation with residents of the city.

Lawvin Hadisi, a spokesperson for Mayor John Tory, says the mayor has always been open to the idea of term limits.

Tory, who was elected for a second term in 2018, has said he would consider a third term if it means ensuring policies he supports are put into action.

“He also believes that any decisions made on the length of term limits should be made after extensive consultation with Torontonians, stakeholders and city staff,” Hadisi says.