‘The worst possible system:’ Critics call for reforms to Toronto’s mayoral election

With more than half a dozen high profile candidates in the packed field, city hall watchers say the next mayor of Canada’s most populous city could be elected with less than a third of the popular vote.

Thestar.com
June 12, 2023
Jordan Omstead

When Torontonians enter the polling booth on June 26 to elect a new mayor, they will stare down a ballot with 102 candidates before marking a single vote.

Whoever gets the most votes wins, regardless of their share of the overall ballots cast.

With more than half a dozen high profile candidates in the packed field, city hall watchers say the next mayor of Canada’s most populous city could be elected with less than a third of the popular vote.

“That’s not good for democracy,” said John Beebe, founder of the Democratic Engagement Exchange at Toronto Metropolitan University.

The next mayor could be handed the weakest democratic mandate in Toronto’s history while inheriting largely untested “strong mayor” powers, allowing them to pass budgets with just one-third council support, veto bylaws and unilaterally shape the city’s top-level administration.

Electoral reform advocates have long argued Toronto’s use of a first-past-the-post system is outdated, saying it fuels polarized campaigns and unrepresentative results. But the record number of candidates this election has exposed glaring issues, advocates say.

“It’s the worst possible system to choose a mayor. And this is definitely a case study in why we need to change our election procedures,” Beebe said.

Under a ranked ballot mayoral election, like one used in San Francisco, candidates need a majority of votes to win.

If a first round does not produce a winner there is an instant run-off where the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Their supporters’ next ranked choice gets those votes. The process repeats until someone gets a majority.

Skeptics, from city council to the House of Commons, have suggested the system could confuse voters, favour centrists and come with costs to replace an imperfect but nonetheless familiar first-past-the-post process.

Proponents, meanwhile, say a ranked ballot would eliminate vote splitting and garner a more diverse slate of candidates.

Lower-profile candidates would face less pressure to drop out and endorse bigger names. Advocates say it could curb polarization at a time of collapsing democratic trust. Candidates, the argument goes, are incentivized to limit attacks on rivals to avoid alienating that person’s supporters.

And importantly, especially with 102 candidates, it ensures the winner has broad support, said Coun. Shelley Carroll, one of the ranked ballot system’s most vocal supporters at Toronto City Hall.

“That can only be healthy for the city. Because now the person knows they have a real mandate,” she said.

Toronto looked ready to move beyond first-past-the-post when council voted in September 2020 to hold public consultations with an eye to bringing in ranked ballots for the 2026 election.

It was part of a wave of electoral reform sweeping Ontario after the provincial government, the rule-setter for municipal elections, changed the law in 2016 to allow for ranked ballots. London, Ont., held a ranked ballot election in 2018, while other Ontario municipalities, including Cambridge and Kingston, supported referendums endorsing the switch for the 2022 vote.

But in October 2020, the Progressive Conservatives under Premier Doug Ford reversed the changes made by the previous government and blocked municipalities from holding ranked ballot elections.