The autocratic and arbitrary reduction of ward representation for Toronto city council that is currently being rushed through the Ontario legislature by the Doug Ford-led PC government will not result in better local government. As policy or a reform process, Bill 5, the Better Local Government Act, cannot be squared with democratic values or procedures.

As policy, reducing the number of city councillors will not lead to cost savings, improved representation or better government for the city, despite what Ford claims. For instance, the reduction in the number of MPPs in the 1990s by another PC government did not lead to any cost savings but merely shifted where money was spent, and had the effect of weakening local influence and centralizing more power at Queen’s Park and in the Premier’s Office.

Reducing the number of city councillors will weaken the democratic representation and advocacy roles crucial to local government. Fewer wards mean that more people will be trying to get the attention of fewer politicians. Far from increasing accountability, this will have the effect of insulating politicians from public pressure as bigger wards mean increased costs to run for office and politicians who will be indebted to those who can fund their campaigns.

Meanwhile, local citizens will find it much harder to organize a grassroots campaign in larger wards. It will also make it harder to reflect the economic and social diversity of the city, as all research on representation shows winner-take-all voting systems combined with large riding sizes tend to benefit the most established, powerful groups in society and fail to reflect the class, gender, ethnic and racial diversity of the community effectively.

As process, announcing major and immediate reforms to another level of government right after an election, without any prior warning or consultation, is highly irregular and goes against the spirit of democratic openness. Such major policy initiatives should be mentioned during the election so that voters can consider them. It is also convention to take input on such proposed changes from those affected by the changes, and consult with realistic timelines to gain, respond and act on such input, rather than ram through arbitrary changes right before they need to be put into practice.

There was a time when governments with just 40 per cent of the popular vote, like the Ford PCs, would approach divisive policy issues with restraint, especially ones that touch on the democratic rules of the game. But today’s political right has a more ruthless view of power. They argue against federal voting system reform because they claim it would threaten local representation and insist any changes need be sanctioned by public referendum. But they forget such concerns when their provincial government wipes out half the local representation for Toronto city council while consulting no one.

It makes little sense to demand the Ford PCs reverse their actions on this issue. They’ve made clear by their actions and stated public rationales that the “reforms” are, like their “austerity” agenda, ideological and, as such, not subject to reasoned, evidence-based discussion or non-partisan considerations of the public good and fair play. As with conservative movements across western countries, the point is to weaken the already shallow substance of democracy in favour of strengthening the power of those with substantial wealth.

Instead of banging on a closed door, the time is now to start posing real democratic reforms to be taken up after the Ford PCs are ultimately defeated. Some of these are obvious, like establishing a legitimate consultation process for changes to ward representation in Toronto, removing the ban on political parties or slates running at the local level. Others are more ambitious, like striking a citizens’ assembly to rethink the whole role and purpose of local government.

But the most urgent reform is for the immediate introduction of a proportional voting system for provincial elections. The results of the 2018 Ontario provincial election and the subsequent actions by the Ford PCs demonstrate clearly why the first-past-the-post voting system is a danger to the survival of democracy itself.

The opposition parties in Ontario should declare their commitment now to introduce proportional representation after the next election, if they are elected.

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