Videodrome
Senior Member
In many state legislatures in the US, it is also a part time job.
Turns out, no!Are the new 2018 ward boundaries set in stone yet? I don't think so.
I would have agreed, but having read the comments yesterday from City lawyers, cold water was poured on a challenge at least by their assessment. Temper that though with the fact that the better lawyers don't work for the City!I'm fairly certain that all it would take is a good lawyer and an injunction to prevent any provincial legislation from changing the October 2018 municipal election process. 2022 is another story. Will anyone take initiative?
See Pages 11-13+ https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/8d62-Attachment-1-TWBR-Final-Report-FINAL.pdf[...]
2.2 COMPONENTS OF EFFECTIVE REPRESENTATION Effective representation is an inclusive phrase used to consider how well residents are represented in our form of government, which we call “representative democracy”. At a general level it means that one person’s vote should be of similar weight to another person’s. Applied to wards, it suggests that wards should be of similar population size. In some jurisdictions this is referred to as “rep-by-pop”, or representation by population. In the TWBR it is referred to as ‘voter parity’. In the Canadian context, the Supreme Court of Canada has employed the term “effective representation” to set the standard for creating municipal ward boundaries and provincial and federal riding boundaries. Effective representation has evolved to include several components, all of which need to be considered in designing a ward structure. These components are:
[...]
Capacity to Represent
Capacity to represent is often equated with Councillors' workload. It encompasses ward size, types and breadth of concerns, ongoing growth and development, complexity of issues, etc. For example, wards with high employment, major infrastructure facilities, tourism attractions, or special areas such as the Entertainment District, generate a host of issues a Councillor has to deal with, in addition to the concerns of local residents. The courts have noted that Councillors perform two functions. The first is legislative and refers to passing by-laws and considering city-wide issues. All Councillors have this role in common. The courts have referred to the second function as the “ombudsman role”, which is interpreted as a constituency role. It speaks to a Councillor's responsibility to represent the interests of a ward’s residents to the city government and its administrative structure. This latter function, the constituency role, is captured by the concept of the “capacity to represent”. This role can vary greatly depending on the issues prevalent in any given ward. There is no specific information or data set to quantify this criterion. Some data on development pressures can be gleaned from development pipeline reports and areas that play a special role in the city's economic life are known. Wards with these types of issues can remain in the lower reaches of the voter parity range. Homogeneous, stable wards can rise to the upper end of the voter parity range.
[...]
Balancing the Components of Effective Representation
Designing a new ward structure requires balancing all the components of effective representation. While all of the components have to be taken into consideration, they are not all equal. Some need to be weighted more heavily than others in determining a new ward configuration. Voter parity is pivotal and is a key determinant of effective representation. Respecting communities of interest is another high priority consideration, along with well-defined, coherent ward boundaries. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that voter parity is required based on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms provision of the “right to vote”. Besides just voting, the right to vote asserts that one person’s vote must be similar in weight to any other person's vote. Voting weights do not need to be identical but they must be 'similar' and within a reasonable range. Within this range other factors such as geographic communities of interest or capacity to represent are considered. Ward boundary reviews need to look into the future. Toronto is growing at a rapid rate. In its pursuit of effective representation, the TWBR looks ahead to 2030 when Toronto’s population will have grown to approximately 3.2 million. The TWBR uses total population numbers in a ward and not electors. Councillors, once elected, represent all people in a ward, not just those eligible to vote. Also, as a ward alignment lasts for several elections, some people not eligible to vote currently will become voters in future elections.
[...]
We cross posted, completely agreed. What would be astounding is this not being the case. The question is really which powerful lawyers are already doing it, and if they are, are they organizing a coordinated effort to pool research and resources?I'm sure there are lawyers already busy putting together the paperwork.
I've been a homeowner in Toronto for over 20 years now. And I've never once consulted or needed my councillor. When there's a pothole or other matter, I call 311 and have the bureaucracy handle it. To me municipal governance is a transactional affair, you tax me, in return I get services. You could reduce council further and I'd likely not notice.Those calling for fewer ridings are ignorant of the fact that city councillor has always been considered a "part time job", in that councillors are *allowed* to hold other jobs (see: Doug Ford at Deco; Mammo at Supreme Douchebag, Inc.). Most councillors go above and beyond already and work 50-60 hour weeks. Shrinking the ridings now doubles the constituency load for every one of those councillors who already overwork themselves.
This is not a boon in any manner. This means less representation for everyone.
You could eliminate Orthodontists, Brain Surgeons, Astronauts and Physicists too.You could reduce council further and I'd likely not notice.
I've been a homeowner in Toronto for over 20 years now. And I've never once consulted or needed my councillor. When there's a pothole or other matter, I call 311 and have the bureaucracy handle it. To me municipal governance is a transactional affair, you tax me, in return I get services. You could reduce council further and I'd likely not notice.
I gave you a 'like' purely on the *gist* of your post. Indignation on a large scale can often force change, but technically, there is no mechanism in the Constitution for secession....errr...provincial separation from the nation besides. Can that change? If enough people become truly upset, and Keesmaat carefully studies the issue, perhaps. To reopen the Constitution is...let's not go there right now. It's virtually impossible with the present mechanism, What was interesting though, and this is a separate point: Nenshi, Calgary's Mayor, coming out so profoundly on the matter. Calgary is also chafing under the provincial yoke. Many cities are! A good part of that is the the 'progressive' bent found in quasi-world class cities.Honestly the only way for the political interference from Queens Park to get resolved would to be secession from Ontario.
The UK has been doing this for generations now (proviso, the UK's counties are directly controlled from Parliament, and so are City States like London, Bristol. Regions are being examined, but Brexit has put the kibosh on that for now), so have Germany and other nations. "City-States". (Germany has a number of them, Hamburg and Berlin immediately coming to mind. Germany has 'Lander' roughly equiv to states or provinces)The moment the balls get rolling on something like that Queens Park would fall into line knowing they would lose the economic powerhouse of the nation.
If the City could operate better under 47 or 25 councillors is an open debate in my opinion depending on your criteria of consideration.
Changing the process now is clearly wrong though. A political calculation clearly, as it would be a pointed wedge issue in the next provincial election 2o22.
If we isolate the issue Ford identifies “getting things done” and “saving tax payers money” and “Ontario open for business” I think the matter is still debatable at best. Maybe he is right that executive level decision-making could be streamlined (or not); however, represention matters for business interests as well as citizens. Often your councillor is a defender of getting things done for business against the absurdities of the bureaucracy, utilities etc. I would wager that the businesses in your Ward are more likely to be in close contact with the councillor than residents. Having less councillors does not help their interests.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/bus...damages-after-ontario-wind-project-cancelled/German company to seek damages after Ontario wind project cancelled
SHAWN MCCARTHYGLOBAL ENERGY REPORTER
OTTAWA
PUBLISHED JULY 11, 2018UPDATED JULY 11, 2018
FOR SUBSCRIBERS
A German-owned wind-power developer said on Wednesday it will pursue at least $100-million in compensation after Ontario’s new Progressive Conservative government announced it is killing the firm’s contract for a nine-turbine project in Prince Edward County.
After years of battling local opponents, wpd Canada Corp. received approval to proceed with construction of the 18.5-megawatt White Pines project in May, a few days after the election campaign began. [...]