OP-ED: Mayor's Vision Illuminates Electoral Reform

By Kennedy Stewart

While electoral reformers may be tempted to dwell on the defeat of the single transferable vote (STV) in the May 12 referendum, they would be wise to keep an eye to the future as the next electoral reform opportunity is quickly approaching.

Not only has Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson promised a plebiscite on electoral reform in 2011, he also says he prefers a mixed-electoral system combining single-member constituencies with a city-wide method by which to elect councillors. The mayor’s vow and vision provides a new date on which reformers can focus, as well as a common stance around which all electoral reformers can rally.

Perhaps best explained as a mixed-member proportional system (MMP), Robertson’s idea provides the obvious electoral system for reformers across the province to now support. MMP maintains familiar single-member districts while making our elected bodies more proportional using top-up seats. MMP provides all voters a single representative they can throw out during elections, but top-up seats also give smaller parties a voice.

And it’s not complicated or crazy. Just ask the Bolivians, Germans, Italians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Venezuelans and, of course, those living in the United Kingdom.

Some will suggest the best route forward is to continue to push for STV for both provincial and municipal elections. But electoral reformers need to realize that STV died on May 12 and is now off the electoral reform menu.

STV almost passed in 2005 because people disliked the first-past-the-post systemand wanted their votes to count for more. However, recent polling suggests that the more citizens found out about STV, the less they liked it. With support sliding from 58 per cent in 2005 to 39 per cent in 2009, it is clear voters in this province do not want elections conducted using STV and this reform option needs to be abandoned.

But the referendum did not dampen the public’s desire to reform how we conduct our provincial and municipal elections. Big parties still receive many more seats than they deserve. Smaller parties remain shut out of elections despite gaining tens of thousands of votes.

I have pushed for a single-member ward system for Vancouver since the early 1990s because it was the only option allowed by the Vancouver Charter and removes some barriers for members of the city’s visible minority communities. But I now feel we need a different way forward. For me MMP is the way to go for the province and our cities. Part of this shift in opinion came while serving as an advisor to the BC Citizens’ Assembly.

While I campaigned for STV in the last two referenda and am disappointed with its defeat, I remind myself that the Citizens’ Assembly initially favoured two alternatives to our current system: STV and MMP. While the Assembly was forced to choose one system on which to base the 2005 referendum, MMP was its other choice. To honour the Assembly’s work and the voters’ wishes, MPP should now be the system on which reformers focus.

In practical terms, Section 108 of the Vancouver Charter does not allow for proportional representation. Thus implementing MMP in Vancouver will require the provincial government to amend the city’s enabling legislation. As such, the best way forward for Mayor Robertson would be to ask Vancouver voters two questions in 2011:

1)    “Are you in favour of electing members of city council by neighbourhood ward system (Yes or No)?”

2)    “Are you in favour of city council asking the province to amend the Vancouver Charter to allow elections to be conducted using a proportional representation system (Yes or No)?”

If more than 50 per cent of voters answer yes to both questions, the next council could immediately implement a ward system and then complete the MMP implementation by adding the top-up seats after the province amends the Vancouver Charter. By 2014, we could be the first jurisdiction in Canada to elect officials using proportional representation. Doing so would still respect the vision of the Citizens’ Assembly while setting the stage for future electoral reforms across the province.

With the MMP system we can eat our cake and have it too. We can have the best features of the first-past-the-post and proportional representation systems. We’ll have a more representative electoral system, our elected bodies will be revived, and the best evidence suggests citizens will come back to the voting booths.

Not only has Mayor Gregor Robertson provided the next opportunity for us to improve democracy in the province, his idea of a mixed-system provides a policy that could find broad support in 2011.

Dr. Kennedy Stewart teaches in Simon Fraser University’s Graduate Public Policy Program (www.kennedystewart.ca)

OP-ED articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Think City. To make a submission to the OP-ED section of the Think City Minute, please email editor@thinkcity.ca for details.