The Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is reviewing the Municipal Elections Act and asking for submissions by July 27, 2015. The following is submitted for your consideration by the Fair Vote Ontario Steering Committee.
Fair Vote Canada’s democratic principles and objectives
Fair Vote Canada’s Statement of Purpose includes the following:
The basic principle of democratic representative government and ultimate safeguard of a free society is the right of each citizen to equal treatment under election laws and equal representation.
We campaign for equal effective votes and fair representation at every level of government and throughout civil society.
To create an equal voice for every citizen and give democratic legitimacy to our laws we must reform our electoral institutions, public political funding mechanisms and governing processes to achieve these interdependent goals:
Proportional representation: The supporters of all candidates must be fairly represented in proportion to votes cast.
Positive voter choice: A democratic voting system must encourage citizens to exercise positive choice by voting for the candidate they prefer. They should not find it necessary to embrace negative or strategic voting – to vote for a less-preferred candidate to block the election of one even less preferred. Never should citizens be denied representation simply because their preferred candidate cannot win a single-member ward.
Fair representation: To reflect in the legislatures the diversity of society we must change the voting system and related laws to remove barriers to the nomination and election of candidates from groups now underrepresented including women, cultural minorities and Aboriginals.
Geographic representation: We must change the voting system and related laws to give rural and urban voters in every community effective votes and fair representation.
Government accountability to voters: Councillors representing a majority of voters must determine the bylaws and guide their administration.
In our view, the purpose of the Ontario Municipal Elections Act should thus be to provide Ontario citizens with fair municipal elections and effective democratic representation. Changes to the Act and subsequent changes to municipal voting practice, if they are to be a step forward, should: improve the fairness of municipal elections; increase the effectiveness of citizen votes; and expand the fairness and diversity of representation on municipal councils.
We suggest that such a statement of purpose should be entrenched in the Act to guide all those who have a responsibility to interpret it.
Fair Vote Ontario and the proposed Ranked Ballots for Ontario Municipal Elections
Fair Vote Canada (FVC) uses the expression “ranked ballots” the same way as the MMAH, to refer to a method of balloting that can be used in single-member or multi-member ridings or wards.
The use of ranked ballots in single-member districts is a winner-take-all voting system like First Past the Post, usually called the Alternative Vote. By design it can deny more than half the voters the representation they prefer. It may provide as many as half the voters no representation of their choosing whatsoever. Alternative Vote, and like systems, have been shown to maintain or possibly worsen the existing bias in favour of a small number of centrist parties. Based on first principles having to do with our view of what it takes to build a fair and representative democracy that is respectful of diversity, FVC endorses the use of ranked ballots in multi-member districts but does not endorse or promote the use of ranked ballots in single member districts at any level of government.
However, we do see a potentially positive aspect of the proposed legislation for Ontario municipalities:
- The use of ranked ballots in multi-member electoral districts yields a proportional representation system known as Single Transferable Vote (STV). In the absence of parties, the PR option that makes the most sense is, in fact, STV. STV provides more citizens with their first choice of representation, as a function of the number of council seats available in each electoral district: the larger the number, the larger the proportion of citizens able to elect a representative most in line with their preferences.
- We consider that the introduction of ranked ballots for the election of representatives to single-member positions, such as a mayor, could be a positive step. The election of a representative municipal council, where the objective is to give equal representation to all voters, is fundamentally different from election of a single-member position, such as a mayor elected by general vote (an anomaly within Canada’s parliamentary traditions).Election of a mayor by general vote can never be proportional. The use of ranked ballots for the election of a mayor elected by general vote could improve vote effectiveness and accountability compared to the existing FPTP system.
- We are pleased to see the STV option explicitly acknowledged on the Ministry website and in materials provided as a basis for the consultations. We are pleased that the proposed legislation allows communities to choose the option that best suits their perceived needs and political imperatives at a point in time, without closing off possibilities for future reform.
- We see a theoretical possibility of moving directly to STV in municipalities and regional municipalities that already have multi-member wards or at-large elections for councillors, where councillors and/or citizens wish to make that transition. We are aware that most Ontario communities (by number) are in this situation. There is, in fact, a strong case to be made that STV is superior to block voting as a way of electing councillors, since the latter tends to exaggerate the dominance of the majority in setting the political agenda. The transition to STV will be easier where multi-member districts already exist.
- By legalizing the STV option municipally in Ontario, the province will be setting a national example which may help citizens in communities like Vancouver get permission from their provincial governments to adopt the STV voting system or some other electoral reform.
RECOMMENDATIONS
For the Ontario Municipal Elections Act, we submit the following recommendations:
(1) The purpose of allowing municipalities more flexibility to determine how their councils are elected should be to make elections fairer, allow more citizens and voters to elect a representative of their choosing, and thus increase the democratic legitimacy of council decisions.
Including such a purpose clause in the legislation would provide interpretative guidance to everyone involved, including the Ontario Municipal Board.
(2) Your Discussion Guide asks “Should public consultation by a municipality be required before implementing ranked ballots or before changing from ranked ballots back to the current system?” And what sort?
We recommend that a local consultation process, the goals of which should include those expressed in the purpose clause of the legislation, should be required before a municipality makes significant changes to the way councillors are elected or at the request of citizens seeking such changes.
Such a consultation process should engage residents in an open, independent, democratic way. It should include objective experts in electoral systems to advise residents on methods by which the stated goals may be met.
(3) We advise that STV is the preferable form of ranked ballot for communities that currently elect councillors at large or in multi-member wards. New Zealand offers a good example of the use of municipal STV without party labels. In New Zealand, seven local authorities and all 20 District Health Boards use STV but do not use national party labels.
As the MMAH has recognized, the use of ranked ballots in multi-member wards in Ontario could result in STV-PR. For example, Kitchener currently elects four members at large to Waterloo Regional Council. This is a good example of an election where diversity and policy differences could be reflected in the spectrum of councillors elected.
(4) We are ready and willing to help Ministry staff educate the public about the opportunities in this legislation for improved representation of more citizens on municipal councils.
(5) We recommend that Ontario encourage municipalities to make the transition to voting systems which expand citizen representation by providing advice, public education and assistance with costs of new voting equipment and software.
(6) Your Discussion Guide says, “The public could also be given the ability to formally petition council to adopt ranked ballots and require that council hold a referendum to determine if voters support the use of ranked ballots.”
We ask the province to include both of these points.
We recommend that the Act include a process to empower citizens to demand or refuse certain changes. The legislation should include a requirement that a meaningful and independent citizens’ consultation (not necessarily a referendum) must be held if requested by a petition to Council signed by a minimum number of electors of the city, district or region not exceeding 5% of the registered electors in the following circumstances:
(a) to request that specific changes be made to the municipal electoral system;
(b) to oppose changes proposed by council.
The result of any referendums should be binding if passed by a 50% majority, regardless of the turnout.
(7) We recommend that in deciding what changes may be included in petitions to council, the Act should specify that residents may request a change involving ranked ballots and/or changes to the ward structure.
For example, many municipalities have two-member wards. A petition to adopt ranked ballots (STV) might also request that those wards be combined to create four-member wards to allow more voters a representative of their choice.
(8) We recommend that the MMAH should time the first reading of this bill to take place after the federal election. In that way the public will be able to focus on the bill without being confused by debates about electoral reform at the federal level.
(9) Your Discussion Guide asks if municipal campaign finance rules are consistent and set out transparent, accountable, fair and modern election finance practices. Currently only the City of Toronto may prohibit corporations and trade unions from making contributions to candidates.
We submit that municipal election finance reform should ban corporate and union donations across Ontario, as most levels of government in Canada have done or are about to do.