Del Duca vows to reform Ontario’s election process
Liberal leader is promising to create a ranked-ballot system if he’s elected premier next June
Reform or resign.
Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca is promising major electoral reform — including ranked ballots for voting — if he unseats Progressive Conservative Doug Ford as premier next year.
And Del Duca will tell Liberal delegates at the party’s annual general meeting on Sunday that if he fails to deliver, he will “resign on the spot and give you back the power to choose someone else.”
“No more excuses, no more spin, no more ‘no’ — because our politics here in Ontario desperately needs to change, for all of us,” the Liberal chief is expected to say in his speech, the text of which was obtained by the Star.
“As an important first step, we’ll reform our elections by introducing ranked ballots. Ranked ballots will mean that parties and leaders will have to compete for voters’ second choices, so it won’t make sense anymore for leaders and parties to demonize one another,” the speech says.
“Ranked ballots will reward parties who find common ground, and who speak to voters’ hopes, not their fears. It will make things better for all of us and put power back where it belongs … in the hands of the people,” it continues.
“I’ll ensure that this is how our provincial elections are run, and I will also reinstate a ranked ballot option for municipalities, if they want to use it.”
That pledge comes after Ford scrapped the city of Toronto’s bid to use ranked ballots last October.
Under a ranked-ballot system, voters select candidates in order of preference. Ballots are tallied by counting all the first choices. If a candidate gets more than half the votes, they win.
But if no one has a majority, the candidate with fewest votes is eliminated and the second-choice votes on those ballots are tallied until there’s an outright winner.
Del Duca’s speech acknowledges that the Liberals have a complicated history with promises of electoral reform.
In opposition, Justin Trudeau promised the 2015 federal election would be the last one held under the first-pastthe-post winner-take-all system, which enables parties to win majority governments with perhaps 40 per cent support.
But in 2017, Trudeau broke his campaign pledge, claiming no consensus has been found on an alternative voting system.
Former Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty also pledged electoral reform, culminating in a 2007 provincial referendum that saw a complicated mixed-member proportional representation system resoundingly rejected by voters.
“I suspect I know what you’re thinking: other leaders have promised a lot on electoral reform and they haven’t delivered. So I want to make it clear how strongly I feel about my commitment,” says Del Duca’s speech.
That’s why if he doesn’t “deliver electoral reform in my first term,” he would resign.
“We’ll also appoint a citizen’s assembly that will be empowered to review additional potential changes to our electoral system and make recommendations to an all-party committee for consideration and action,” the speech continues.
Del Duca’s address calls for four televised leaders’ debates, and also makes a point of saying constructive things about his rival leaders.
“I’m going to acknowledge that my opponents have some good ideas. (Green Leader) Mike Schreiner recently released a housing plan that includes ideas that should be seriously considered,” the speech says.
“(NDP Leader) Andrea Horwath has consistently spoken about the need for transformational change in long-term care,” it continues.
“And Doug Ford, an individual who I have said on the record does not have the capacity to adequately lead this province, even Doug Ford has seen fit to increase the provincial investment in the delivery of high-speed broadband,” the speech goes on.
“Saying these words does not diminish me. It strengthens all of us.”
Del Duca’s speech, which will be delivered to about 60 Liberal candidates at North York’s Montecassino Hotel, and another 600 delegates virtually, also promises to reinstate the basic income pilot project that Ford cancelled.
“In addition, I am announcing today that an Ontario Liberal government will also launch a pilot project to analyze the potential for a four-day workweek,” the speech says.
“This concept has been examined in other parts of the world, including New Zealand, Japan, Iceland, Scotland and Spain, and I want us to determine if it has merit here.”