ISSUE 10 - More elections are coming so you might as well be prepared
Welcome to another issue of #munipoli Matters, discussing all about municipal elections and the usually unreported stuff in between when it comes to the wild and wacky world of local government.
The well of municipal news may dry up somewhat as we all focus on the holiday season. Federal politics is also diverting attention as Parliament reconvened with a throne speech, with political watchers wondering what the Liberal government is planning in their new mandate.
Nevertheless, 2022 is going to be the year of municipal and provincial votes as Canada’s two biggest provinces, Ontario and Quebec, go to the polls along with Ontario’s 444 municipalities...not to mention municipal elections in BC, Manitoba and PEI.
Democracy activist Dave Meslin created a Google spreadsheet outlining the municipal election calendar for the next three years. As you can see, the years 2023 to 2024 may be somewhat quieter on the election front.
In 2022, BC and PEI have a much later date of when candidates can register and start campaigning, although on the West Coast municipal political parties can start raising and spending money in the beginning of the year. No wonder the Globe and Mail observed that there was more activity in terms of campaigning for Vancouver’s top job this cycle than last time.
Meanwhile, back in Manitoba and Ontario, the nomination period when candidates can start registering to run begins March and May, respectively. In Ontario, most attention is going to focus on the provincial contest until after the June election, so it is advisable to any municipal Ontario candidates to put that factor into consideration.
Mixed reactions to more online voting and other methods
Speaking of municipal voting, you should know that unlike at the provincial or federal level, your local municipality is the entity that administers and runs the election, not an independent office like Elections Ontario or Elections Canada. Because each local jurisdiction has to deal with how their local electors vote, ideas such as online voting have recently emerged as a serious idea, but with mixed results.
St. Thomas, Ontario has perhaps taken the most radical step when it comes to online voting, abandoning in person voting for the 2022 municipal election entirely. The town of almost 40,000 people adopted a hybrid in-person and online voting system in 2018. A total of 10,218 people voted with 56% by paper ballot, 41% online and 3% by phone, with voter turnout coming in at around 36%.
While the mayor and municipal officials cited the convenience and increased efficiency from “voting anywhere”, cybersecurity experts have raised concerns. “What is the system that’s going to recover your vote if it gets lost or stolen or modified? How are you even going to detect that that happened?” asked Aleksander Essex, a cybersecurity expert and associate professor of software engineering at Western University.
Milton, Ontario is also exploring the possibility of remote online voting, but only for the 2022 election. A staff report from October 25 also recommended continued use of vote tabulators with paper ballots at in-person voting locations, as well as vote by mail options.
Not every jurisdiction is going for online voting; Prince Edward Island has decided to abandon its implementation, citing high costs and not meeting technical and security requirements.
Guelph, Ontario has also expanded voting options such as vote-by-mail and a pilot project for home voting for some disabled residents, although it has not gone by without criticism that it is not fully accessible as some would like.
Prominent Ontario mayor running for the Tories
Recently Norm Miller, the veteran Progressive Conservative MPP for the riding of Parry Sound-Muskoka, announced his retirement after twenty years in politics. The Ontario PCs have already announced that Bracebridge Mayor Graydon Smith will be their candidate.
Smith had been a councillor since 2006 and became mayor in 2010. He is a former president of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) as well as a former chair of the Ontario Small Urban Municipalities organization.
First elected in a 2001 by-election after former finance minister Ernie Eves retired from politics, Miller’s late father Frank was also a former premier and represented the same area from 1971 to 1987.
Newfoundland mayor ejected from the ballot
You might be asking yourself “wait, didn’t he write about the Newfoundland municipal election a few months back?” I did...but in at least one town in the province, Kippens, had their local election delayed until November 30 because of serious allegations of harassment on council...by their mayor.
That particular mayor, Debbie Brake-Patten, has now been banned from being elected as a member of council for at least two years, by orders from the provincial government.
A special investigations report found that Brake-Patten had displayed a pattern of workplace harassment and bullying behaviour, leading to the minister’s decision to bar her from running. But not everyone in town agrees with that decision.
South Africa’s ruling party’s power grip slips
Finally, we take a trip half the world away, as the African National Congress (ANC) has had it’s long dominance in South African political life challenged after municipal elections ousted the ANC from power in several prominent cities.
Synonymous with Nelson Mandela, which has governed the country since the first post Apartheid free election in 1994, the ANC lost the mayoralty of the municipality containing the capital city Pretoria to the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA).
Cities such as Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni also selected DA-backed mayors, while the ANC managed to hold onto eThekwini, which contains the port city of Durban. With Cape Town being a longtime DA stronghold that leaves the ANC governing in only three main urban areas: Mangaung, Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Bay.
As cited in the Toronto Star article, South Africa’s local government elections take place every five years and determine the composition of city councils responsible for providing essential services like water, waste removal and sanitation. The councillors then elect mayors. Therefore, coalition building was necessary, and the ANC failed to do that in this case.
Even though overall the ANC still won the lion’s share of votes, the party fell below 50% for the first time in South Africa's democratic history in the post Apartheid era.
National elections in South Africa aren’t until 2024. Municipal results don’t always reflect what will happen in the future. But it’s clear that the ANC’s decades-long grip on power has been rocked, with various parties emerging to some prominence after decades of virtual one party rule in this very young democracy.