There’s nothing wrong with city council’s size

Turning back the clock on municipal democracy would be a mistake, Taylor C. Noakes says.

Doug Ford’s decision to reduce the size of the elected municipal council of Canada’s largest city raises the question: Would a Quebec premier dare do the same to Montreal?

Such a proposal might not go over too well. Montrealers have fought hard for their representative democracy and have a permanent reminder of what life was like when things were very different: The Big O remains a monument to the overspending and corruption that can occur when executive power goes unchecked. When Montreal was preparing for the Olympics, there was no opposition at city hall: mayor Jean Drapeau’s party held all 52 seats on council after an election held during the 1970 October Crisis, in which Drapeau had accused the opposition Front d’action politique — without evidence — of being an arm of the FLQ. At least two opposition candidates were jailed under the War Measures Act. It was not until the 1974 election that an active opposition arrived at city council: the Montreal Citizens’ Movement.

Montreal has come a long way since the days when there was no universal franchise in Montreal municipal elections (until 1968, not all tenants had the right to vote) and since the democratic dark ages of the Drapeau Era. We should remind ourselves that our hard-earned rights should never be taken for granted.

Though Montreal’s civic administration may seem Byzantine to outsiders, we now have a thriving local democracy. Not only do we have a large council that has the potential to keep the executive branch in check, we have the same on a smaller scale at the borough level.

Ford’s suppression of Toronto’s democracy has been justified in the name of streamlining processes and finding efficiencies. Citizens of both Toronto and Montreal should be wary of such arguments: it was for ostensibly the same reasons that both of Canada’s largest cities underwent forcible mergers some 20 years ago. Neither case proved successful: the amalgamated Toronto successfully lobbied for more powers from the province, while most of Montreal’s predominantly anglophone suburbs successfully demerged from the short-lived megacity. In both cases, citizens fought back against provincial interference in municipal affairs.

Though Canadian cities remain “creatures of the province,” both of Canada’s principal metropolises have evolved to the point where they’re each more than capable of managing their own business. With populations at or exceeding two million, Toronto and Montreal are each larger than six provinces.

Big cities — particularly big cities with aspirations — need big governments. Ford’s notion of fewer people doing the same amount of work will magically increase efficiency and cut costs is absurd: is a hospital better able to handle packed emergency rooms with fewer nurses and doctors? Would Parliament function better if each MP had to represent two or three times as many people?

No, of course not. Montrealers have long argued in favour of greater public consultation and greater involvement in municipal affairs. Within memory we have experienced both dictatorial mayors and provincial government interference, and neither have had a positive effect other than to unintentionally encourage greater civic involvement. If we want to maintain our say in local affairs we can’t also support hamstringing our council by slashing the number of elected representatives: we can’t have it both ways. Should a populist Quebec premier ever make such a proposal as a means to cut costs, we should invite him or her to begin by taking a salary cut.

Whether municipal representatives are good at doing their jobs and responsive to citizens’ needs is a separate issue. But Montrealers obviously weren’t happy with the autocratic tendencies of the previous mayor, and so a majority decided to go with an organized political party, Projet Montréal, that built its support base through grassroots engagement with citizens. To argue in favour of reducing municipal representation now that we have such a party in power would be particularly counter-productive.

Taylor C. Noakes is an independent journalist based in Montreal.