Ontario considering municipal election reforms

Issues under discussion could fundamentally change how we elect our local leaders and the way they run our cities.

Thestar.com
May 29, 2015
By David Rider

Civic elections starting five months later, bans on mysteriously funded attack ads and politicians facing real consequences for campaign overspending.

Those are all possible outcomes of a sweeping review of Ontario’s municipal election rules. While the option of using ranked ballots is the review’s headline-grabber, much more is on the table, Municipal Affairs Minister Ted McMeekin told the Star on Friday.

Some of the issues under discussion that could dramatically change civic elections, and the governments they produce:

The 2014 campaign ran from Jan. 2 until Oct. 27 - roughly eight times longer than the provincial race the same year. Some have said that, without a party system, candidates need time to raise money, but many agree it’s simply too long. “The consensus I’m hearing is that a start date of around June 1 might work,” McMeekin said.

“Third party” campaign advertising. There are no restrictions on people not officially connected to any candidate unleashing attack ads of indeterminate origin. Sometimes slickly produced but usually appearing online, they proliferated in last year’s Toronto election. The province is asking if there should be rules and, if so, what should they require.

Campaign finance. Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro was convicted of campaign overspending, forced to resign and in the fall will be sentenced by a judge. Toronto Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti overspent his campaign and is being forced to pay back $17,500. Rob Ford exceeded his 2010 mayoral campaign spending limit, an audit found, but Toronto’s “compliance audit” committee voted to do nothing. Many consider such committees “toothless”, McMeekin said, and “nobody wants to say that somebody can buy their way to election.”

Extending voting rights to residents who are not Canadian citizens. Many including Ryerson University’s Myer Siemiatycki have made the case for change, while others including say noMayor John Tory say no. “It’s on the radar but we haven’t heard a lot about it,” McMeekin said. “Some say it would help people with different traditions and customs integrate as early as possible, while others say citizenship has its privileges and this is one.”

Ontarians have until July 27 to have their say on possible changes.