- by Jason A. Holder
On Tuesday October 20, 2020, Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey tabled Bill 218. Schedule one of the bill, Supporting Ontario’s Recovery Act, will provide “targeted protection for those who are making an honest effort to follow public health guidelines and laws “ (Attorney General, 2020). In his nearly 10,000-word presentation of the bill at its second reading, Attorney General Hon Doug Downey did not speak at all about Schedule Two.
Schedule two of Bill 218, and the one I want to discuss today, is an act to amend the Municipal Elections Act, 1996. The act changes timelines to be followed by municipal staff as well as marks a return to a nomination date in September rather than the July date we had in the 2018 municipal elections. The biggest change, without question, is the revoking of the allowance to conduct municipal elections by ranked ballot.
Schedule two of Bill 218 is not so much an over-reach of the Provincial government as it is an undermining of the municipal governments in the Province of Ontario. There are several issues with the passage of this legislation. It assumes that municipalities are, at best, unwilling or, at worst, incapable of making decisions in the best interest of their constituents. It also assumes that the Province is more in tune with the needs of our municipal constituents than municipal officials. It also shows the province’s hesitation on working with municipalities as trusted partners. There has been no consultation with municipalities thus far. Finally, the Province’s argument that people need consistency in how elections are conducted at all three levels of government is weak and lazy at best. At worst, that argument is offensive to the intelligence of the constituents.
The previous Ontario Liberal government had made sweeping changes to The Municipal Elections Act. The biggest of these changes was the ability to conduct municipal elections by ranked ballot. The City of London became the first Ontario municipality to do so by opting to conduct its 2018 elections by ranked ballot. Cities of Kingston and Cambridge put the question to do so in 2022 on their 2018 ballots. Voters in both those communities supported making the move for 2022. City of Toronto recently voted to direct staff to have ranked ballots ready for the 2026 elections.
I want to be very clear when I say that municipal government is a lot more in tune with what the constituents want. Municipal councillors are the most accessible politicians for most of the public. Municipal councillors are available to listen to us directly rather than through staff. In most municipalities, you can log on to the municipal website and find a phone number for your councillor. This leads me to ask why the provincial government, then, feels the need to legislate a decision this important.
Municipalities exist, constitutionally, at the pleasure of the province. So, there is hardly an argument on whether the province can legally make changes to the Municipal Elections Act. This does create an argument on whether municipalities should have a degree of independence rather than being subservient to the whims and fancies of whoever is in charge at Queen’s Park. As he answered questions regarding the bill, MPP Parm Gill, Member for Milton, the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, mentioned that it cost London an additional $515,000 to run their 2018 election. A 40% increase compared to the 2014 election. I want to point out that it did not cost them $515,000 more, but it cost them a total of $515,000 which was almost double the cost of running the 2014 election.
While it is commendable that the provincial government wants to save the taxpayers some money, it comes at a questionable time and in an even more questionable form. It is evident that the PCs care little for cost-saving measures. They converted the position of EQAO chair, a part-time position earning $3,600 under the previous Liberal government, into a full-time position which paid $140,000. Further, the person appointed to the job was a defeated PC candidate. The government has shown little appetite for non-partisan appointments. This government also cancelled the Universal Basic Income pilot. It was allegedly because the program was “failing” (The Canadian Press, 2018) - a strange allegation given that a few months prior to this announcement the PCs promised not to scrap this project during the spring election campaign.
I guess we ought to be used to broken campaign promises from all levels of our government. It is time for the higher levels of government to recognise and accept that municipal governments remain more in tune with the needs of their constituents than the provincial or federal government. Given that a number of municipalities had undertaken referendums and received a clear mandate from their constituents that they preferred the ranked ballot system to the FPTP should tell the PCs that there is a preference in those municipalities for a stronger election system than the need for saving a few dollars a month while enduring a weaker system.
A key point that this government has tried to make is that it looks to municipalities as partners rather than underlings. This has been mentioned not only by the Premier Hon Doug Ford, but also by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Hon Steve Clark. In a release following the 2020 AMO Conference, the Minister said, “I want to thank our municipal partners for everything they've done to keep our communities safe throughout the pandemic. Their success is Ontario's success, and we will continue working hand in hand with AMO and its members so every community can come back stronger than before.” (Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, 2020).
In his speech at the conference, Minister Clark went to great lengths to demonstrate that the provincial government was amending legislation to allow municipalities to do more, rather than curtail their activities, “These times have shown us - more than ever - that flexibility is critical for all governments, and we know that it will continue to be necessary as we move forward” (Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, 2020). At the same conference, the Premier said, “My friends, the relationship with our municipal partners is more important than ever. And now more than ever, the people of Ontario expect us to work together.” (Office of the Premier, 2020).
So, you can colour me surprised when the government makes a change as big as how we conduct our elections without any input from us. There has been a trend, from this government, of treating municipal governments like the annoying child at the Thanksgiving table rather than an equal partner. Though, I feel a better analogy would be like the “fart in the room” as Michele Rempel once lamented on the treatment of Alberta by the federal Liberals.
In 2018, soon after this government was elected, it moved to change the number of councillors in the City of Toronto. This was done without consultation. It moved to scrap the position of Regional Chair in Peel, York, Niagara, and Muskoka as part of the same legislation. Again, without consultation. Throughout their mandate so far, the province has tried to make changes to how municipalities function without significant consultations. The only case where the government did, in fact, carry out consultation and then heed the feedback was when they were proposing further municipal amalgamations and proceeded to shelve the project when municipalities spoke against it.
I take this opportunity to remind Premier Ford of what he said at the 2019 AMO Conference, “Municipalities know how to make every dollar count because you know where it's needed most. The solution shouldn't be imposing one-size-fits-all solutions from Queen's Park.” (Office of the Premier, 2019). He ended that keynote speech with “We're 100 per cent committed to taking an active role to support you, so you can continue to do what you do best — put people first” (Office of the Premier, 2019). Unless Premier Ford can present empirical evidence that municipalities have been cavalier and inefficient with the money of the taxpayer, he should be asking the Attorney General to shelve this bill or he should have the honest conversation that he is complicit in his government’s hypocrisy. There might be a fart in the room, but I can tell you this, it is not the municipalities that are making the stink.
Another reason that the province has cited for this change is “to make voting consistent” (Freeman, 2020) across federal, provincial, and municipal elections. I find that the laziest argument in favour of making the change. I am unconvinced that ranked ballots are not a good method of selecting our leaders. Premier Ford should agree with me. Had it not been for PCs using a ranked ballot for their leadership election in 2018, Christine Elliott would have been the Premier. She won, on the first ballot, 23,237 votes (4,187 electoral points) compared to 20,363 votes (4,091 electoral points) for Premier Ford.
So, if ranked ballot was good enough for electing Doug Ford to the post of PC Leader, why is it unsuitable to elect the mayors and councillors in London, Kingston, and Cambridge? The Minister Clark’s office said in another statement that “the timing is not right for allowing municipalities to use a different voting system” (Freeman, 2020). It argued that 443 out of 444 of Ontario’s municipalities would not see any changes to how they elect representatives in 2022. What the release fails to mention is municipalities like Kingston and Cambridge who had laid the groundwork for change in 2022. It fails to mention the work Toronto did, and the decision it made to consider ranked ballots for 2026.
It also fails to mention the Municipality of Meaford’s decision (from October 19 Council meeting) to put the question of ranked ballots to the public in 2022. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing said in an email statement, “At a time when municipalities are focused on protecting the health and safety of their residents and are facing decreased revenues as a result of COVID, proceeding with costly ranked ballot elections does not make sense for taxpayers,” (Stacey, 2020). Unfortunate timing for Meaford. Furthermore, the issue of cost did come up at the Meaford Council meeting. I’ll quote the Clerk Matt Smith, “It’s easy for me to say this as the Clerk. I don’t believe you should ever make a decision about an election based on money. An election is the fundamental principle of our democracy and so you should do what’s best for our population, not what’s cheapest for our population.” (Municipality of Meaford, 2020).
In conclusion, the province has made it clear that it looks to municipalities as partners. The Premier himself has said this on multiple occasions. It is often said that people tend not to notice things until they go wrong. Things are starting to go wrong. There is an issue in this partnership today. One of the partners is not taking into consideration the reservations of the other partner. Our municipal officials need to speak up. They need to stand up for themselves, if not for their constituents. We ought to be able to decide for ourselves – locally – whether or not we want a ranked ballot. We do not need a supreme leader making the decision for us.
Municipalities in Grey County, and across the province, need to come out with one voice to reject schedule two of this bill.
Works Cited
Attorney General. (2020, 10 20). Ontario Protects Workers, Volunteers and Organizations Who Make Honest Efforts to Follow COVID-19 Public Health Guidelines and Laws [Press Releasehttps://news.ontario.ca/en
Freeman, J. (2020, October 20). Ford government moves to scrap ranked ballot elections for Ontario municipalities. Retrieved from CP24 News: https://www.cp24.com/news/ford-government-moves-to-scrap-ranked-ballot-elections-for-ontario-municipalities-1.5153128
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. (2020, August 18). Minister Steve Clark's Speech at the 2020 Association of Municipalities of Ontario Conference. Retrieved from Ontario Newsroom: https://news.ontario.ca/en/speech/58027/minister-steve-clarks-speech-at-the-2020-association-of-municipalities-of-ontario-conference
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. (2020, August 19). Ontario and Municipalities Work Towards a Strong Economic Recovery. Retrieved from Ontario Newsroom: https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/58064/ontario-and-municipalities-work-towards-a-strong-economic-recovery
Municipality of Meaford. (2020, October 19). October 19 Council Meeting. Meaford, Ontario, Canada.
Office of the Premier. (2019, August 2019). Premier Ford's Keynote Address at the Association of Ontario Municipalities 2019 Conference. Retrieved from Ontario Newsroom: https://news.ontario.ca/en/speech/53374/premier-fords-keynote-address-amo-2019
Office of the Premier. (2020, August 17). Premier Doug Ford's remarks at the AMO 2020 Annual Conference. Retrieved from Ontario Newsroom: https://news.ontario.ca/en/speech/58020/premier-doug-fords-remarks-at-the-amo-2020-annual-conference
Stacey, M. (2020, October 20). Will Doug Ford ban ranked ballots from municipal elections? Maybe. Retrieved from https://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/news/local-news/will-doug-ford-ban-ranked-ballots-from-municipal-elections-maybe/wcm/5955818c-7e6a-4786-ab0e-b98a96d629d2?video_autoplay=true: https://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/news/local-news/will-doug-ford-ban-ranked-ballots-from-municipal-elections-maybe/wcm/5955818c-7e6a-4786-ab0e-b98a96d629d2?video_autoplay=true
The Canadian Press. (2018, August 31). Ontario's basic income pilot to end March 2019. Retrieved from CBC.ca: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-basic-income-pilot-end-march-2019-1.4807254
