Can ranked ballots, first tried in London, Ont., then axed by Ford, make a comeback?
CBC
Kate Graham admits she took it personally when the Doug Ford government passed legislation in 2020 to block Ontario municipalities from using ranked ballots in future elections.
Graham is running for the Liberal Party in London North Centre, but in a previous job with the city, she worked as director of community innovation. One of her projects was to help the city follow through on council's will to become the first jurisdiction in Canada to use ranked ballot voting in the 2018 municipal election.
It was a significant endeavour and not without risk. There were concerns about everything from added costs to technical challenges and questions about whether the voting results would take days to tabulate. Voters had to be informed about the new system in a PR campaign and at events where mock votes were held.
But by all accounts, London pulled it off well enough to inspire voters in other municipalities — including Kingston and Cambridge — to follow its lead and give ranked ballots a try in the next municipal election.
"The election went well," said Graham about London's 2018 vote. "We heard lots of positive comments during the election about people wanting to have more choice and more say."
Unlike the first-past-the-post system, ranked ballots allow voters to rank candidates based on their preference. The votes are redistributed based on these rankings in subsequent vote counts until one candidate achieves a majority.
Supporters say it gives voters a greater choice.
Arielle Kayabaga, now an MP representing London West, has said the city's experiment with ranked ballots "was a huge factor" in her decision to run as a first-time candidate in 2018, a campaign that ended with Kayabaga becoming the city's first black woman councillor.
Then, in the fall of 2020, suddenly and without consultation or warning, Premier Ford pulled the plug on ranked ballots provincewide by including a clause that bars them in a piece of COVID-19 recovery legislation.
There was a fierce outcry and London council voted to oppose the move.
"I have no idea why Ford decided to take it away, not only from London but from municipalities across the province," said Graham. "It's not something he campaigned on. It's not something he talked to anyone about."
When the Ford government moved to nix ranked ballots, officials said it was to save municipalities money and ensure voting systems were consistent across the province.
Now, with Ford's Progressive Conservatives seeking re-election, platforms for the NDP, Greens and Liberals all promise to again allow municipalities the option of using ranked ballots if that's what they choose. The Liberal platform goes further, promising to use ranked ballots in the next provincial election.
PC candidate Jerry Pribil is running in London North Centre against Graham and NDP incumbent Terence Kernaghan.