City committee shows little interest in ranked ballots
Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: December 6, 2016 | Last Updated: December 6, 2016 4:27 PM EST
Council’s leaders aren’t keen on Ottawa being a test case for municipal electoral reform in Canada.
The Ontario government is giving municipalities the choice to use a ranked ballot vote for the next council elections in 2018.
Ottawa council’s finance and economic development committee on Tuesday received an information report on changes to the election law, but no one proposed to pursue the alternative voting method.
The committee, which is chaired by Mayor Jim Watson, includes the heads of other standing committees.
Capital Coun. David Chernushenko, a fan of ranked ballots, acknowledged that changing the election system for the 2018 municipal election would be “too hasty.”
Kanata South Coun. Allan Hubley said, “I haven’t heard from one person this is a big burning issue.”
Ranked ballots allow voters to rank their preference of candidates. Candidates with the lowest number of votes have their ballots transferred to others until a candidate has a majority of the votes.
Under the current system, the candidate with the most votes wins.
The clerk’s office says a ranked ballot vote in 2018 would cost $3.5 million more than the traditional system. If the city wants a ranked ballot for 2018, council would need to have a bylaw passed by May 1, 2017, leaving a short period for the city to educate and consult voters on a critical change to municipal democracy.
No Canadian jurisdiction uses ranked ballots for elections.
Ottawa123, a group supporting ranked ballots, was the only deputation at the committee. Spokesman Colum Grove-White wants the city to form a citizen advisory group to consider changes to the election system.
Other new election rules from the province could create a headache for the city clerk’s office.
The 2018-2022 term is proposed to begin two weeks early on Nov. 15, rather than the traditional Dec. 1 start date. That means the city would need to hurry to train new council members, turn over council offices and liaise with outgoing political staff.
On top of that, the clerk’s office will now be responsible for reviewing all campaign contributions and contributions to third-party advertisers.
“This is probably going to be a nightmare for the clerk’s office,” Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Diane Deans said.
The organizing group for Ottawa’s bid to host the 2021 Canada Summer Games put the full-court press on politicians, but the financial plan should be a slam dunk at council Dec. 14.
The finance and economic development committee signed off on a $43-million plan for the Games if the city wins the hosting right. Property taxpayers would be responsible for $10.5 million, with the other two levels of government and the Games providing the rest of the money.
The city’s money would largely fund upgrades to city-run venues, such as the Nepean Sportsplex and Terry Fox Athletic Facility.
Ottawa is competing with three other communities for the hosting duties: Niagara Region, Sudbury and Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge/Guelph.
The Games will announce the host community next spring.
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