ISSUE 3 - Latest in NTV: Newfoundland, Toronto and Vancouver
We have news this week pertaining to local elections in three different parts of Canada, plus a bit from our neighbours down south. Let’s get right to it.
It will be 25 Toronto wards for 2022
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the decision made by the Doug Ford government in Ontario to reduce the City of Toronto’s council from 47 to 25 wards during the 2018 municipal elections.
An appeal by the city was heard in March, with the decision rendered this past week; you can read the full SCC decision here. I am by no means a legal expert of any dimension, but to summarize the SCC found that the province had acted within its constitutional boundaries, based on Section 92 of the Constitution:
“In each province the Legislature may exclusively make laws in relation to matters coming within the classes of subjects next hereinafter enumerated.” Within the list of enumerated subjects that the province has sole jurisdiction over, “Municipal institutions in the province.”
In other words, cities, towns, regions and municipalities are ‘creatures of the province’ and this SCC upheld the status quo of the relationship between municipalities and the province. Contrary to the political reaction and spin from the Tory government in Queen’s Park, the SCC judgment did not opine on the province’s decision to cut Toronto’s council on the notion of ‘saving money or efficiencies’ in the operation of the city…nor on the argument that Charter rights of Toronto’s citizens were violated.
From the political left flank of Toronto City Council, councillors like Joe Cressy, Mike Layton, Josh Matlow and Gord Perks continued to go on about how this was undemocratic and downright tyrannical. But these councillors know there’s obviously no recourse now that the SCC decision makes things final.
The only recourse is to hope that a potential Liberal or New Democratic government takes up the idea of a ‘city charter arrangement’ for Toronto, but this is contingent on either of those parties successfully dislodging Ford from office in the 2022 provincial election.
As a self described political pundit with some interest in municipal governance, it’s clear to me that either the sitting members of council figure out how to govern in the current system, or there needs to be some fundamental restructuring of how Toronto functions…maybe even consideration of something radical like de-amalgmation.
Newfoundland and Labrador municipal election results
Meanwhile, on the far eastern fringes of the Atlantic Ocean, The Rock held their local elections for municipal councillors on September 28. Most of the deciding results were made by acclamation, as a number of councillors and mayors ran without opposition, but there are some interesting results to highlight.
While St. John’s did not see any contests for mayor and deputy mayor as incumbents Danny Breen and Sheilagh O'Leary respectively won by acclamation, three city wards and one at-large council seat saw new councillors elected as incumbents opted to retire. In Ward 2, Ophelia Ravencroft won with 44% of the vote, becoming what is believed to be the first trans-gendered person elected to council in Newfoundland and Labrador.
In a town called Clarenville, which straddles mainland Newfoundland along the Avalon Peninsula, election night saw challenger John Pickett unseat incumbent mayor Frazer Russell by two votes, forcing an automatic recount.
The recount took place on October 1 and was certified by Clarenville’s CAO. It worked out in Pickett’s favour, as his winning margin increased from two to seven, with (still) 903 votes compared to 896 for Russell.
In other municipal results from Newfoundland, Darrin Bent won a three way open race for the mayoralty of Conception Bay South and George Andrews won a five way open race in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
In Deer Lake, not only did the sitting deputy mayor defeat the mayor, they elected a 19 year old to their town council. The kid is no political novice though; he’s been a constituency assistant to Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey. As for Deer Lake’s new mayor, Mike Goosney, he was a councillor in Labrador City and ran for both the provincial PCs and NDP.
Speaking of Labrador City, they elected an entirely new slate of individuals to serve on council, reelecting only one incumbent. The group of defeated councillors includes a former provincial Transportation Minister.
What’s going on in Vancouver?
Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia are scheduled to hold municipal elections in 2022. Unlike Alberta where the two largest cities have a ward system for electing councillors, Vancouver elects councillors citywide, with municipal parties selecting slates for council and mayor.
From 2008 to 2018, the civic party Vision Vancouver ran the city with Mayor Gregor Robertson at the helm. When Robertson retired, former NDP MP Kennedy Stewart ran and won as an independent for the mayor’s job while council was divided between the Non Partisan Association (NPA), the traditional centre right party in Vancouver politics, the Greens and other progressive, left leaning parties such as COPE and One City.
But while there are several parties on the political left in Vancouver civic politics, there are also emerging choices on the right. Former Conservative MP Wai Young ran for mayor in 2018 under the banner of “Coalition Vancouver”, which ran on a centre-right populist platform. Just recently, former NPA councillor Colleen Hardwick announced she is forming a new centre right party and may be contesting the mayoralty under the new party’s banner in 2022.
TEAM for a Liveable Vancouver is actually a reincarnation of a party founded by Harwick’s father, a former councillor, during the 1960s. Hardwick has had an interesting career outside the conventional path of politics, including a background in film production and not exactly “going along to get along” on council.
The NPA nominated parks board commissioner John Coupar as their mayoral candidate. Businessman Ken Sim, who lost to Stewart in 2018, has expressed his interest in running for mayor again under the banner of another new party called ‘A Better City’.
Now, if you happen to be a Liberal partisan and looking for a stalking horse in this crowded field, political strategist Mark Marrissen is running for mayor as well.
Marrissen’s history with the federal Liberals goes back decades, being an organizer during the successful 1993 election win, the BC campaign chair for Paul Martin, and serving as campaign manager for Stephane Dion’s Liberal leadership run in 2006.
We may be seeing a vibrant mayoral contest playing out in Calgary and Edmonton culminating on October 18, but in 2022 it looks like the West Coast’s most prominent city will see a hotly contested race to elect its’ next mayor. While Stewart is running again and looks to have the support of labour groups behind him, he only won with 28% of the vote in 2018.
RIP: Speaking of Vancouver’s mayors, former mayor Phillip Owen passed away at the age of 88 last Thursday. Elected under the NPA banner, Owen was mayor from 1993 to 2002, during a term which oversaw the growth of neighbourhoods such as Yaletown and Coal Harbour and the residential population of downtown increasing from 40,000 to 80,000.
But his signature initiative was a drug strategy for Vancouver, which led to the city setting up North America’s first supervised injection site. Owens did not stand for reelection in 2002 and was made a member of the Order of Canada in 2008.
Some American flavour
Now for a look at what’s happening down south. Our friends in the United States basically have elections every year at some level anywhere in their countr. Although 2021 is considered an “off year” before the midterm election festivities begin in 2022, there are elections in Virginia and New Jersey for governor and state legislature, as well as mayoral elections in several US cities.
One such election is in Hoboken, New Jersey. In 2017, this borough of about 50,000 people elected lawyer Ravi Bhalla, making him the first turbaned Sikh elected to mayor in the United States. Bhalla won a tight multi-person contest with only 32% of the vote four years ago, but this time around there was no opponent running against him, making this the first uncontested mayoral race in 68 years.
Because Bhalla won uncontested, the real contest is whether the “Team Bhalla” slate of candidates or the “Independently Together” slate will prevail in winning control of council. But there are also candidates running as independents, not aligned with either slate, and they have some rather catchy campaign slogans:
“Too Many Politicians in Politics”
“Patricia Waiters for Real Constituent Services”
“Manny Rivera for Hoboken”
“Your Friendly Neighborhood Councilwoman”
For those of you in Canada who ever thought about how a municipal slate would work in a local election, I hope this gives you an idea.
To cap off this week’s updates, I’ll leave this music video made by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and his team about his accomplishments while in office and contrasting himself from his predecessor, Kevin Faulconer.
The song is entitled “Todd Gloria is Back”, sung to the tune of “Return of the Mack”. Gloria served as acting mayor briefly from 2013-2014 before Faulconer, a Republican, was elected in 2014. Faulconer was also recently a candidate in the California gubernatorial recall vote, which was unsuccessful in recalling incumbent Governor Gavin Newsom.
Upon further research, it turns out Faulconer also did a political video that was meant to combine humour and policy as well...but I don’t think the point was as clear in this one in comparison to the Gloria music video.
If there were more videos like this explaining policy positions or what government is doing for people, maybe more people will think local government is exciting?
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