Wards in Vancouver
In October 16, less than 2 weeks from now, those of us that live in the city of Vancouver will be voting in a plebiscite on whether city council should be elected in the present at-large system, or as wards, like many other large cities in the country.
I was called by the pro-wards campaign asking for not only support, but money and to volunteer. I told them I was supporting, but I would not be donating any money.
Part of the problem is that I don’t feel all that confident in a wards electoral system for Vancouver. But it’s not that easy.
COPE is strongly pushing the wards system for pretty clear political reasons: they stand to dominate city council for sometime if the city were to be divided into wards. They are claiming that it will offer better representation to minority groups within the city.
Councillor Sam Sullivan of the NPA, on the other hand, is not only against wards, but supports the current at-large electoral system, claiming that a wards system would make councillors less acountability to issues that aren’t relevant to their ward.
And yet there’s more to the debate than just that. There are others that are voting ‘no’ because they don’t support wards, nor do they support at-large. They are after things like a hybrid wards and at-large system, or pro-rep (something the Green school trustee is supporting).
So there are an infinite number of options, but only 1 question (with 2 answers) being asked.
As I said, I will be voting ‘yes’ in the upcoming plebiscite. I will be voting yes because I support something other than the present at-large system. My hope is that it will elect more balanced city councils — though this is just my hope. I worry that in many ways, parts of the city will actually loose representation, the way many people feel about the wards system used provincially.
According to the proposed boundaries, I will be in the Point Grey-Kitsilano ward. My guess is that this ward would be controlled by the Point Grey, right-ist voting population, and less by the hippy/young family/student population of Kits. So for me, having an NPA councillor (or worse), would mean that I would only actually have one councillor to represent me, one councillor to ignore and disregard my issues, and only one councillor to blame.
I suppose I’ve become somewhat ambivalent on the issue. But, come October 16, I will be voting ‘yes’.
