We need political parties in city races

It’s getting more difficult to challenge incumbent mayor and councillors

Congratulations to Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson on his re-election to another fouryear term. Nominations don’t close until Friday, but no significant challenger is going to come forward, so Watson is as good as in.

What will the re-elected mayor offer in his third term? We don’t know yet, but it really doesn’t matter, because we have already chosen him by default.

It’s a pretty sad situation when the province’s secondlargest city has no serious race for mayor. That’s not Watson’s fault, and he’s not a bad mayor, but shouldn’t voters have some choice of direction after eight years of the same person in charge?

Challenging an entrenched mayor such as Watson is difficult and is made more so by Ontario election-rule changes that take effect this year. It used to be that challengers could start raising money and campaigning Jan. 1 of election year. Now, the start date is May 1. That’s a big advantage for incumbents.

Only in municipal politics can a politician expect to be chosen either by acclamation, or virtual acclamation, such as we see in Ottawa’s mayoral race. So what is to be done?

The solution, I have reluctantly concluded, lies in something that I have always advocated against: municipal political parties.

What Ottawa needs is not the kind of ideological parties we have at the federal and provincial levels, but two or three homegrown, citizenrun organizations that address our civic issues. We need practical approaches.

The greatest value of parties would be in the mayoral race. That is, we’d actually have one. Without a serious race for mayor, there is no one to raise the issues the city faces. What are we going to do about roads, planning, taxes and garbage disposal over the next four years? These are the big issues, but right now the answer is, whatever Jim Watson says.

Sure, there are 23 other councillors, but the mayor has done a masterful job of managing the majority of them. The reality for city councillors is that they can run a campaign based almost entirely on what they intend to accomplish in their own wards. No one really presses them to address broader issues.

Parties would also aid in candidate recruitment. Someone has to encourage more good people to come forward, but the system we have now is geared to do just the opposite. The rules are shaped to favour the people who have the jobs now.

The ghostly shape of parties already exists on our council. Some councillors are mild fiscal conservatives, others favour more action on issues such as the environment, cycling and social housing. In the end, though, Watson keeps most of them in the middle of the road, most of the time.

Homegrown political parties have the potential to give Ottawa voters real choices for mayor, and a real focus on issues and better candidates, but there are challenges to making it happen.

The antics of parties federally and provincially have discredited the concept, although they are still the best way to give voters meaningful choices.

Provincial legislation is also not friendly to the idea of municipal parties. While it does allow groups of people to run as a slate, they can only raise money for themselves. The short window for fundraising also limits what a party could do.

Of major Canadian cities, only Vancouver and Montreal have municipal political parties. Parties can bring their own problems, but it’s difficult to imagine that those problems would be more severe than the lack of a race for mayor, limited focus on issues, and turnover that occurs mostly when a councillor decides to retire.

We have a new provincial government, potentially open to new ideas. The democratic deficit we have in Ottawa shows that these ideas are needed.

Someone has to encourage more good people to come forward, but the system we have now is geared to do just the opposite.