{"id":811,"date":"2013-06-13T19:22:58","date_gmt":"2013-06-13T19:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/?p=811"},"modified":"2013-06-13T19:25:35","modified_gmt":"2013-06-13T19:25:35","slug":"toronto-city-council-backs-radical-change-to-ranked-ballots-and-letting-non-citizens-participate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/2013\/06\/13\/toronto-city-council-backs-radical-change-to-ranked-ballots-and-letting-non-citizens-participate\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto city council backs radical change to ranked ballots and letting non-citizens participate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Champions of democracy and inclusion are applauding Toronto city council for supporting a pair of pioneering motions that could fundamentally rewrite the city\u2019s election rules and change the face of local politics.<\/p>\n

By:<\/strong>\u00a0Paul Moloney<\/a>\u00a0City Hall Bureau reporter,\u00a0Rachel Mendleson<\/a>\u00a0News reporter,<\/div>\n
Published on Tue Jun 11 2013.\u00a0Available here<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Champions of democracy and inclusion are applauding Toronto City Council for supporting a pair of pioneering motions that could fundamentally rewrite the city\u2019s election rules and change the face of local politics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

On Tuesday, council voted to ask the province to give permanent residents the right to participate in municipal elections, and to allow the city to adopt\u00a0ranked choice balloting<\/a>, which would give voters the option to rank candidates in order of preference.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

If the province agrees to make the necessary legislative amendments, experts say it could open the door to similar changes in jurisdictions across Canada.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cIt would set a serious precedent,\u201d said Andr\u00e9 C\u00f4t\u00e9 of the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance at University of Toronto. \u201cIf a city like Toronto decides that they want to move ahead with a significant electoral reform like this, people would certainly take notice elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Officials in Premier Kathleen Wynne\u2019s office said they were closely watching the city council decision.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cThe Toronto population is truly diverse. We obviously just heard council\u2019s vote and we will review it, have conversations before making any firm decision,\u201d a senior official said late Tuesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The new system could be in place for the 2018 civic election, although it\u2019s not yet clear how the province would change Toronto\u2019s election rules, which are spread across the City of Toronto Act, the Municipal Elections Act and the Municipal Act.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

But Debbie Douglas, executive director of the Ontario Council for Agencies Serving Immigrants, sees council\u2019s hard-won support as the most crucial step to extending voting rights to permanent residents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very pleased that Toronto is once again leading the country in terms of progressive policies,\u201d said Douglas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

That motion, which would allow 250,000 non-citizens to vote in municipal elections, barely squeaked through, by a vote of 21-20.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Mayor Rob Ford was among those who believe that Torontonians should be Canadian citizens to vote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense. How can someone that\u2019s not a Canadian citizen vote?\u201d he said. \u201cI just think we wasted six hours because I don\u2019t believe the province is going to do anything with this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

While similar policies are in place internationally, Douglas said Toronto would be the first city in the county to welcome non-citizens into the ballot box.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Ranked balloting, which passed by a vote of 26-15, would also be a first in Canada.<\/p>\n

Under such a system, voters are free to either select their one favourite or rank their favourites in order of preference: A \u201c1\u201d for their top candidate, a \u201c2\u201d for their next-best candidate, a \u201c3\u201d for their third.<\/p>\n

\n

If a candidate gets a majority of first-place votes \u2014 50 per cent plus one \u2014 the election is over. But if no candidate achieves a true majority, an \u201cinstant runoff\u201d is carried out: the least popular candidate is knocked out, and the second-place votes of that candidate\u2019s supporters are added to the totals of the candidates who are left. This process continues until someone has a majority.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cCity council is moving forward on a really positive step to make local elections more fair, and less polarizing,\u201d said prominent local activist Dave Meslin, who spearheaded the drive for ranked ballots leading a group called\u00a0Ranked Ballot Initiative of Toronto (RaBIT<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cNow it\u2019s in the hands of Queen\u2019s Park. We\u2019re hoping they respect the wishes of council and give permission the council needs to make this change happen for 2018,\u201d Meslin said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The extent to which those changes would touch other municipalities remains to the seen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

A report from the city manager and city clerk called from \u201cextensive public consultation before implementing any change to the current electoral system.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

As their report suggested, the public may be wary: since 2005, major electoral reforms have been defeated in referenda in three Canadian provinces.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Meslin said Premier Kathleen Wynne told him when she was the municipal affairs minister that she does not believe the province should stand in the way of council on this issue. A spokesperson for then-minister Wynne did not dispute Meslin\u2019s account, saying Wynne is a \u201cfirm believer in local democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Champions of democracy and inclusion are applauding Toronto city council for supporting a pair of pioneering motions that could fundamentally rewrite the city\u2019s election rules and change the face of local politics. By:\u00a0Paul Moloney\u00a0City Hall Bureau reporter,\u00a0Rachel Mendleson\u00a0News reporter, Published on Tue Jun 11 2013.\u00a0Available here Champions of democracy and inclusion are applauding Toronto City […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-migration-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\nToronto city council backs radical change to ranked ballots and letting non-citizens participate - Knowledge Migration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/2013\/06\/13\/toronto-city-council-backs-radical-change-to-ranked-ballots-and-letting-non-citizens-participate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Toronto city council backs radical change to ranked ballots and letting non-citizens participate - Knowledge Migration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Champions of democracy and inclusion are applauding Toronto city council for supporting a pair of pioneering motions that could fundamentally rewrite the city\u2019s election rules and change the face of local politics. By:\u00a0Paul Moloney\u00a0City Hall Bureau reporter,\u00a0Rachel Mendleson\u00a0News reporter, Published on Tue Jun 11 2013.\u00a0Available here Champions of democracy and inclusion are applauding Toronto City […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/2013\/06\/13\/toronto-city-council-backs-radical-change-to-ranked-ballots-and-letting-non-citizens-participate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Knowledge Migration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-13T19:22:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-06-13T19:25:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"km\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"km\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/2013\/06\/13\/toronto-city-council-backs-radical-change-to-ranked-ballots-and-letting-non-citizens-participate\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/2013\/06\/13\/toronto-city-council-backs-radical-change-to-ranked-ballots-and-letting-non-citizens-participate\/\",\"name\":\"Toronto city council backs radical change to ranked ballots and letting non-citizens participate - Knowledge Migration\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-13T19:22:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-06-13T19:25:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/#\/schema\/person\/811d2e9d6e6432382224e0ba4c7f7b2e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/2013\/06\/13\/toronto-city-council-backs-radical-change-to-ranked-ballots-and-letting-non-citizens-participate\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/2013\/06\/13\/toronto-city-council-backs-radical-change-to-ranked-ballots-and-letting-non-citizens-participate\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/2013\/06\/13\/toronto-city-council-backs-radical-change-to-ranked-ballots-and-letting-non-citizens-participate\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Toronto city council backs radical change to ranked ballots and letting non-citizens participate\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/\",\"name\":\"Knowledge Migration\",\"description\":\"An RRN Microsite\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/#\/schema\/person\/811d2e9d6e6432382224e0ba4c7f7b2e\",\"name\":\"km\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9af6b8c80082357a0203b11647b709a50295ab9b7ed0154ace4df156e4b3230?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9af6b8c80082357a0203b11647b709a50295ab9b7ed0154ace4df156e4b3230?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"km\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/author\/km\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Toronto city council backs radical change to ranked ballots and letting non-citizens participate - Knowledge Migration","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/2013\/06\/13\/toronto-city-council-backs-radical-change-to-ranked-ballots-and-letting-non-citizens-participate\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Toronto city council backs radical change to ranked ballots and letting non-citizens participate - Knowledge Migration","og_description":"Champions of democracy and inclusion are applauding Toronto city council for supporting a pair of pioneering motions that could fundamentally rewrite the city\u2019s election rules and change the face of local politics. By:\u00a0Paul Moloney\u00a0City Hall Bureau reporter,\u00a0Rachel Mendleson\u00a0News reporter, Published on Tue Jun 11 2013.\u00a0Available here Champions of democracy and inclusion are applauding Toronto City […]","og_url":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/2013\/06\/13\/toronto-city-council-backs-radical-change-to-ranked-ballots-and-letting-non-citizens-participate\/","og_site_name":"Knowledge Migration","article_published_time":"2013-06-13T19:22:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-06-13T19:25:35+00:00","author":"km","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"km","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/2013\/06\/13\/toronto-city-council-backs-radical-change-to-ranked-ballots-and-letting-non-citizens-participate\/","url":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/2013\/06\/13\/toronto-city-council-backs-radical-change-to-ranked-ballots-and-letting-non-citizens-participate\/","name":"Toronto city council backs radical change to ranked ballots and letting non-citizens participate - Knowledge Migration","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-06-13T19:22:58+00:00","dateModified":"2013-06-13T19:25:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/#\/schema\/person\/811d2e9d6e6432382224e0ba4c7f7b2e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/2013\/06\/13\/toronto-city-council-backs-radical-change-to-ranked-ballots-and-letting-non-citizens-participate\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/2013\/06\/13\/toronto-city-council-backs-radical-change-to-ranked-ballots-and-letting-non-citizens-participate\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/2013\/06\/13\/toronto-city-council-backs-radical-change-to-ranked-ballots-and-letting-non-citizens-participate\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Toronto city council backs radical change to ranked ballots and letting non-citizens participate"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/#website","url":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/","name":"Knowledge Migration","description":"An RRN Microsite","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/#\/schema\/person\/811d2e9d6e6432382224e0ba4c7f7b2e","name":"km","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9af6b8c80082357a0203b11647b709a50295ab9b7ed0154ace4df156e4b3230?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9af6b8c80082357a0203b11647b709a50295ab9b7ed0154ace4df156e4b3230?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"km"},"url":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/author\/km\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":813,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions\/813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeresearch.net\/ms\/km\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}