CIVIC ELECTION ISSUES – Is it time to try a ward system in Kamloops again?

 

Part 5 in a series on some of the issues raised in the current civic election.

By MEL ROTHENBURGER
Publisher, ArmchairMayor.ca

THERE WAS A TIME when Kamloops had a ward system of civic government. It didn’t work. Is it time to try again?

City council candidate Mac Gordon, for one, thinks so. Many others have believed for a long time that a ward system would bring more responsive government to Kamloops.

A ward system would divide the city into zones, with voters in each zone electing one City council member. The mayor, for practical reasons, would continue to be elected with the old at-large method.

The provincial legislature is, basically, a ward system, with ridings being the equivalent of wards. So are the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and other regional districts — electoral areas are wards, and so are municipalities in that case.

But what about Kamloops City council? Those who believe in the ward system think the city would be better governed because each councillor would have more intimate knowledge of their local areas and would be more accessible to their constituents.

So why didn’t it work before? When Greater Kamloops was forcibly amalgamated into one city in 1973, the municipalities of Brocklehurst, Dufferin and Valleyview were dissolved and merged with Kamloops and several unincorporated communities — Westsyde, Barnhartvale, Rayleigh, Heffley Creek, Campbell Creek and (temporarily) part of the Kamloops Indian Reserve. The new city had a mayor and 12 aldermen elected under a ward system.

The idea was that, because Greater Kamloops had been composed of diverse, feuding communities, a ward system would assuage concerns about local representation in the unified city.

Instead, it encouraged continuation of dissension as ward aldermen fought to protect their own communities. The late Gordon Bregoliss, who served on that council, later said it was afflicted with infighting, with no one working toward a collective vision or purpose. There seemed no incentive to work for the well-being of the new city as a whole.

Would it happen again? The ward system works fine in major cities such as Winnipeg and Regina, and Vancouver and Surrey are thinking about adopting it. Question is whether Kamloops is big enough.

Certainly, geographically, it is. The first advantage that comes to mind is that elections would be a lot easier on both voters and candidates. There would likely be only a few candidates from which to choose in each ward instead of 30 or so citywide. And council candidates could focus on door knocking, sign planting and forum appearances within their own wards instead of attempting to appeal to tens of thousands. It would be a lot cheaper to campaign, too. Elections would become more about policies and track records than about name recognition.

It seems logical that voters would become better acquainted with localized election issues, and candidates better acquainted with their own wards than it’s possible to do with the entire city.

The public would also, presumably, more easily connect with their ward councillor than trying to figure out which of nine councillors on an at-large council to get hold of. And those ward councillors would be more accountable.

A bonus for voters would be fewer campaign signs.

Under the current at-large system, certain parts of the city can be left without any council members elected from there. An entire council, for example, might be elected from the South Shore and North Shore, with nobody from other communities.

But there are difficulties too. There’s that infighting thing, with councillors arguing over which ward gets a benefit, which gets more or less funding. And if the council as a whole is under-performing, voters would have no say in forcing a collective change in direction. However, if the TNRD can be used as an example, directors by and large are able both to advocate for their communities and co-operate on region-wide matters.

Many studies have been done on the pros and cons of ward systems. They generally agree that ward systems cost more. To begin with, they require bigger councils. In Kamloops, those 12 councillors and mayor in the original amalgamated council might not be enough anymore. The fact there are 16 polling stations in this Saturday’s election may be a clue to that.

Vote-trading (‘I’ll vote for your project if you vote for mine’) could, in theory, lead to more spending and, therefore, bigger budgets and higher taxes. One study showed that at-large councils spend 11.9 to 17.6 per cent less than all-ward councils, and tax 13.4 to 26.3 per cent less. Per person debt was 68.5 per cent lower.

It also confirmed that ward-system councils tend to focus on more parochial issues.

There’s one more big potential problem with a ward system for Kamloops. Some wards might attract a dozen candidates; others might contract hardly any. A South Shore ward, for example, might bring 10 or 12 candidates forward, while an outlying ward such as Rayleigh-Heffley might attract only one, or zero. It’s a function of population and geography, and Kamloops would be almost impossible to divide into wards that would both make geographical sense and be similar in population.

The City has redacted the residential addresses of the 29 candidates for council so we can’t use the current field as an example of what might happen. It would also be determined if candidates would have to live in the ward in which they’re running.

There’s a third option, which is a hybrid – elect some councillors by ward, and some at-large. That might create a balance that provides some of the advantages of a ward system but retains an overall vision as provided by an at-large system.

So, to the question, should Kamloops have a ward system? Maybe, or maybe not yet.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, writes for the Kamloops Chronicle and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and was a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.