Cambridge should continue electoral reform debate

There is a hunger for democratic reform in Canada, and it is growing by the day.

In Quebec, Premier François Legault came to power last month after promising to introduce proportional voting for the next provincial election.

Meanwhile, a referendum being held in British Columbia this month and another in Prince Edward Island next year will give voters in both provinces a chance to change how they elect their leaders.

And here in Waterloo Region, the struggle continues in Cambridge to change how future city elections will be conducted.

Coun. Jan Liggett is pushing for ranked ballot voting in the 2022 municipal election, after a majority of those who cast ballots in a city-wide referendum last month supported such a system.

Kudos to Liggett for keeping up this fight, whatever the city ultimately decides. Cambridge can blaze an electoral reform trail other communities can follow.

To be sure, the city’s referendum on electoral reform — held along with its municipal vote — is not binding. Only 32 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots, far short of the 50 per cent required to make the results stick.

But the voters in that referendum spoke clearly and deserve respect. Besides, as Liggett points out, it’s almost impossible to get a 50 per cent turnout in a local municipal election.

As a result, while the Cambridge referendum doesn’t compel the new council to do anything, it presents a strong case for continuing to explore electoral reform.

Just think about that 32 per cent voter turnout. That dismal figure suggests the vast majority of Cambridge citizens are not engaged in this most fundamental way with their city government. Voter turnout in neighbouring Kitchener and Waterloo was even lower.

Yet local governments are closest to the people. Not only do they provide essential services that improve the quality of our lives, they impose significant taxes on us, too.

Advocates of moving to ranked ballots believe the change will make elections more fair by making them more truly representative of voters’ wishes. This, in turn, could boost voter turnout and lead to greater citizen participation in local democracy between elections.

Today, with the exception of the City of London, every municipal election in Canada is settled by a first-past-the-post ballot, where the candidate with the most votes wins, even if that candidate claimed a small fraction of votes cast.

In a ranked ballot system, voters identify their choices of candidates from first to last. If no one claims more than 50 per cent of the vote in the first round, the last-place candidate is eliminated and the votes cast for her or him are reallocated to each voter’s second choice. That process continues until one candidate obtains 50 per cent of the vote.

That’s how London voted last month — although, interestingly, the ranked ballots produced the same results as the first-past-the-post system would have. Even so, London provides an example for Cambridge city council and city residents to study as their discussion on electoral reform continues.

There’s time to do this right. Council should create a special committee and assign specific staff to the issue. Public meetings and information sessions should be held. Then, in its coming term, council can make a call.

It’s too early to say what that call should be. But somehow — in this era of Trump, Brexit, divided societies and cynical citizens — the hunger for democratic change must be satisfied.