Council Electoral Reforms!

I am a firm believer that we all would be better served is the City was selected to a number of election related reforms.

The first change, and it is one that I will abide by even if it is not passed by council, is to limit the duration any member my stay in their elected council position is 2 consecutive years.  This means that council will be subjected to a forced influx of new council members, bringing new ideas and concepts.  I am a firm believer in looking at what is done elsewhere and “plagiarizing” the good ideas.  This is one example of a concept in place elsewhere.

It also means that the second term councillor can actually make the hard or unpopular shoulder without putting his or her re-election as the windsock which determines how they vote.  After two terms, they can go into the private sector, academia, etc.  What they learn in those 4 years can be used along with campaigning on their previous record should they decide to run after that ‘sabbatical’ period.

One of the ‘evils’ of any election campaign is the use of election signs.  I don’t like them.  They are a pain to manage, an eyesore to look at and to serve what purpose?  After being plastered everywhere, the Candidates all have to scurry about to remove them within 48 hours.  Then they have to be disposed of.  In the region of York, they actually have an election sign recycling program which handled of over 6 tons of signs in the last election cycle.  I have made a commitment not to use signs unless the other candidates decide to do so, and even then, I will think long and hard about the cost/benefits.  Regardless of that, I will propose a mandatory election sign recycling program which all candidates will have to comply with.

 

Election Commitments:

  1. Limit term in the same council position to at most 2 consecutive terms.
  2. Implement a mandatory [by-law enforced] election sign recycling program.
  3. I have stated publically, before the sign display date, that I will NOT use signs unless other Ward 5 candidates do so first, and even then likely not.
  4. During the first half of the term, investigate changes to the Rebate Program such as what Toronto has done and the process New York has implemented on front end loading donations ro councillors and candidates which helps level the incumbents advantage over the non incumbent.
  5. Publish a list of all people who attend any public meeting via the city website.