Our Amazing Race is heating up across Canada, with grassroots community leaders trying to secure Local Choice for their city councils!

Municipal voting reform is the first step towards democratic renewal in Canada as well as a strategy to increase voter turnout and boost diverse representation on all of our city councils.  

If you live in BC - or know anyone in BC - we have an important action item for you:

On Thursday May 13, local politicians from 33 cities will be voting on Resolution #5, Local Choice: Tools to Improve Representation in Local Government Elections. This is one of the most important resolutions we've seen in years, designed to strengthen local democracy.

There's no one-size-fits-all election system, so Local Choice simply gives each city or town the ability to experiment with democratic reform based on their own local needs. But, sadly, the Lower Mainland Local Government Association has published a recommendation against Resolution #5.

Borrowing language from regressive anti-reformers across North America, they claim that election systems should be “uniform” and “consistent”, rather than "a patchwork of systems across communities.” This is a recipe for status-quo politics, forever.

Let's be clear. The recommendation is regressive and absurd. BC's elections are already a patchwork. Voters use completely different ballots for local politics, compared to federal or provincial. And even amongst BC municipalities, there are major differences between cities. Vancouver uses political parties, for example, while other cities do not.

Across Canada, many cities have wards. Many do not. Many use online voting. Many do not. Some elect a Regional Chair. Some do not. Some cities subsidize campaign contributions. Most do not. This kind of variety is normal, and citizens are smart enough to figure out how to vote!

Ranked choice voting in particular, is being used all across North America with incredible success. And in each case, it’s not province-wide or state-wide. It’s a city-by-city choice. In Europe, some cities, including Berlin and London England, use a Mixed Member Proportional system. There are so many reforms worth exploring.  But first you need Local Choice!

ACTION: