Matthew and his Feelings

Reforming Toronto city council: so many options!

From the Star this morning:

There seems to be no shortage of ideas for changing the size of Toronto City Council and the way it is elected. For instance, mayor-elect Rob Ford’s winning platform included a pledge to cut the number of Toronto city councillors to 22 from 44.

As well, Liberal MPP Mario Sergio has a private member’s bill that would trim the size of council to 32, including an eight-member board of control elected through new mega-wards. Sergio’s bill would also impose a limit of two consecutive turns in office. Newly elected Ward 32 councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon also campaigned on limiting politicians to two terms and pledged last week to press for this reform as one of her first priorities in council. And “I Vote Toronto,” a coalition of urban activists and community groups, is continuing to push for extending voting rights in municipal elections to permanent residents who are not yet citizens.

More possible changes include introduction of political parties at the municipal level, preferential ballots (where candidates are ranked according to first, second and third choices), and a split system in which some councillors would be elected in individual wards as they are now while others would be chosen at large.

Where do I stand on these?

1. Cutting council to 22: sounds good.
2. Mega-wards: let’s try it. Would want more info about what powers the board of control would have.
3. Extending voting rights to permanent residents: heck yes and yes again.
4. Political parties: no. Political parties are fundraising machines, they don’t improve the quality of discourse.
5. Preferential/ranked ballots: yes, easier to understand than STV. Check out RaBIT.
6. Councillors at large: yep! These systems have a tendency to attract celebrities, for example in Japan, which is something to guard against.