Better Ballots Initiative – John’s Positions
The Better Ballots Initiative – John Richardson – Toronto Ward 29 Candidate – Positions
The 2010 Toronto Elections are poised to be the most exciting ever. We will have a new mayor. A number of “long time” councillors are leaving (with severance pay). There is lots of anger towards the current Toronto City Council. The reasons range from the garbage strike of 2010 to misuse of taxpayers money. But, what are the issues?
The issues fall into two categories.
The first category contains issues that are what I would call “Life In Toronto” issues. These are things that affect peoples day to day lives. These include the problems with the TTC, schools, school closings, parking, building permits, etc. Toronto residents experience these issues all day every day.
The second category contains issues are those that surround “Democratic Reform”. That is the way that we elect our City Councillors. How long should they serve? Who should be allowed to vote? How can we vote? What hours? How about online voting? Once elected, how long can a Toronto City Councillor serve? What kind of budget should they have? Should political parties play a role in Toronto City Council?
The first category of issues – “Life In Toronto” issues are a factor in every election. The second category of issues – “Democratic Reform” are being debated in the 2010 elections. Dave Meslin and Betterballots.ca have been very active is promoting awareness of democratic reform. They have been conducting town all meetings and getting feedback on very interesting and important questions. Today I received the following email from them:
“We’ve heard from hundreds of voters, now it’s time to hear from the candidates. Are they committed to making our local elections more inclusive, participatory, diverse and fair? How would they do it? Which reforms are they willing to adopt and incorporate into their platforms?”
As a candidate for City Council in Ward 29 I would like to state my current position on the issues and questions raised by Better Ballots. I will explain my answers in subsequent posts, but here are their questions and my answers. Let me also say, that I approach this with an open mind and am willing to change my mind if presented with cogent arguments. So, please feel free to comment.
The Better Ballots questions may be found here:
Who Votes? When and Where?
1. Should permanent residents (non-citizens) be allowed to vote in municipal elections?
Yes.
First, there is no reason to not allow permanent residents to vote.
Cities are creations of the Ontario Municipal Act. The Constitution of Canada contemplates Canada as a whole and the provinces. Cities are not part of the Constitutional structure of Canada. Therefore, one should not argue that because permanent residents cannot vote in Federal Elections they should not vote in municipal elections.
Second, there are good reasons to encourage permanent residents to vote.
We want everybody to have a stake in the community and participate in it. There are many permanent residents in Toronto. We want them to have a stake in the community.
2. What about moving voting day to a weekend day?
I don’t think that voting should take place on one day. Voting should place over a one week period. This would mean that there would be no obstacle to anybody voting. Remember, democracy is a participatory sport! We have the City Council that we do because the voter turnout is small. Some of this may be the result of it being too difficult for some people to vote. We must do what we can to create opportunities for people to actually register that vote.
3. Should people be allowed to vote by phone or online?
We can file a tax return online. We can file a GST return by phone. I assume that every vote would be assigned a “voting code” that could be used just once. Online and phone voting would make voting more convenient. That said, I could imagine that those “voting codes” could be transferred to others. This could be a problem when various “special interests” want to get their candidates in. These special interests might include (but would not be restricted to) various political parties, unions, etc.
Therefore, for the moment, I would not support online voting. The phone voting might be doable. Perhaps this could be accomplished by using both a voting code and require that the phone vote come from one specific phone number.
4. Should the voting age be reduced from 18 to 16?
This is a pure judgment call. I think I will say “no”.
Parties and Terms
5. Should political parties operate at the municipal level?
No. There are many reasons for this.
First, “party candidates” are beholden to their parties. City Councillors should be representing the residents of their ward and not the interests of a party.
Second, City Council should be a place where City Councillors work together in a “practical”, “respectful” environment to solve practical problems and improve the quality of life for Toronto residents. We don’t need political parties to do this.
Third, a party is nothing more than a “voting coalition”. Historically, all candidates were “independents”. Parties came into being as “voting coalitions”. We want “sound judgment” and “independent decision making” in City Council. We do NOT want agreements to vote in certain ways.
Fourth, the historical involvement of political parties in Toronto Elections has been very negative. In the 2006 election an NDP backed candidate (with no experience) came close to unseating the current councillor in Ward 29. Political Parties should not exist in Toronto elections and should not be allowed to campaign for candidates. We have banned unions and corporations from donating to campaigns. The time has come to ban political parties from trying to install their preferred candidates.
6. Should Councillors be limited to a designated number of consecutive terms?
Yes. City Councillors should not have “tenure” and serving on City Council should not provide an “annuity for life”. The reasons include:
First, the financial incentives for being a Councillor are too great. These include: severance pay, pensions, and other benefits.
Second, it is very difficult to campaign against an incumbent Councillor. Incumbent councillors can use their office to campaign all day every day. This cannot be tolerated.
The fact that “term limits” will force good councillors to leave is irrelevant. The idea would be to replace them with other good councillors.
Ballot Structures and Districts
7. Should the ward system be replaced with councillors who run city wide?
The real question is whether Toronto should be viewed as a “whole” or whether Toronto should be viewed as the “sum of its parts”. Joe Clark used to call Canada “a community of communities”. Torontonians are quick to praise Toronto for its neighbourhoods and ethnic diversity.
As long as Toronto is not a separate Canadian province (there has been some discussion of this), I think that local interests matter. In fact, I think (just my opinion) that local interests are the main reason that we need City Council.
So, some aspect of the “ward system” should be retained. But, I do see that it is hard for City Council to function if each Councillor is representing a ward and no councillor is representing Toronto as a whole. What about having both kinds of Councillors? Rob Ford has suggested that we should cut the number of Councillors in half (I am not taking a position on this). What about retaining the 44 Councillors but have:
– 22 that represent local interests; and
– 22 that represent the City of Toronto
I think this would lead to a more effective City Council.
8. What about an Instant Runoff? IRV
It is a fact that many councillors receive a very small percentage of the total vote. This is an intolerable situation. It leads to contempt for the political process. At a minimum we need to ensure that our Councillors are elected by a majority of those who vote. Yes, it perpetuates the “first past the post” but an “Instant Runoff” would be a great improvement over what we currently have. The question of “proportional representation” is a different issue.
9. Ranked Ballots in Multi-member wards?
I don’t want to comment on this without knowing more about it. Check back.
10. Hybrid : At-Large and Wards
I don’t want to comment on this without knowing more about it. Check back.
11. Borough Councils
I don’t want to comment on this without knowing more about it. Check back.
12. Prohibit a company or union from paying volunteers
Prohibit! A company or union cannot be allowed to do indirectly what they cannot do directly. The fact that it is difficult to enforce is irrelevant.
13. Pre-election contribution disclosure
Yes, all contributors and amounts should be disclosed prior to the election. It would be helpful to see who is supporting who. I don’t see a single disadvantage to this (in terms of the integrity of the electoral process) and I see some advantages.
14. Limit what candidates can contribute to their own campaigns
I don’t think this is the right question. The question is whether there should be a contribution limit to the campaign in its totality. If you think that there should be a contribution limit, then a candidate would be limited by the contribution maximum for the ward.