Comment 106978

By kevlahan (registered) | Posted December 12, 2014 at 11:53:07 in reply to Comment 106976

Vancouver doesn't have wards, and wards were often suggested as a way of making councillors more responsive to the local community.

On the other hand, Vancouver does have municipal political parties (parties unique to Vancouver and these parties change relatively quickly). I think this is a good thing as it gives voters a clearer idea of where candidates stand on a variety of issues, and who would be more likely to work together. It also weakens the advantage of incumbents since name recognition and confidence also comes from the party, not just from the candidate. Parties also tend to lead to more efficient government, and less political favours between councillors.

For some strange reason, municipal political parties are apparently illegal in Ontario. This doesn't seem right.

Having ranked voting with run-offs would also help since most votes involve more than two candidates and voters are not neutral about their second or third choices. It would also mean that the winner got over 50% of the vote (instead of 20% or less which is common in competitive races with multiple candidates).

Comment edited by kevlahan on 2014-12-12 11:55:51

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