Three Ways We Can Improve our Local Democracy

In the 2022 election, Guelph saw only 28% of eligible voters cast their ballots, according to guelph.ca. This means that some candidates were elected with support from just 14% + 1 of the population. Voter turnout, and democratic engagement as a whole, is therefore deeply suffering and in need of reform.

My original stance was that we need to reduce our two part-time councillor model per ward to one full-time councillor. But after spending the last 6 months knocking on doors and still only engaging two-thirds of Ward 5, I have come to believe that we need more, smaller wards to represent the different interests and needs of each community. The following points further explain the need for change.

1. Online voting

This is absolutely paramount. Municipalities across Ontario, including Cambridge, have already gotten on board and we must follow suit. By enabling more people to vote easily and accessibly, we can help remove barriers to participation and potentially increase voter turnout. As such, this must be a top priority for our 2030 election.

2. Our current system does not make sense

Guelph elects two part-time councillors per ward.

While that may not sound like a major difference, it means the people making some of the city’s most important decisions about budgets, housing, transportation, infrastructure and public services are often doing so off the side of their desks. Additionally, both councillors are still expected to read all of the emails, attend all of the events and vote on all the issues, sometimes cancelling eachother out if they have opposing viewpoints, and leaving the Ward unrepresented on important issues.

3. We aren’t attracting a broad range of candidates.

The salary sits in an awkward middle ground: attractive for a part-time position, but difficult to justify as a full-time career.

As a result, the role is often most accessible to people who are retired, nearing retirement, independently wealthy, or have another source of financial stability. That inevitably narrows the pool of people who are realistically able to run.

The city benefits when council includes people from a wide range of backgrounds, professions, and life experiences, including younger residents, renters, parents, entrepreneurs and people currently navigating today’s affordability challenges. Our governance structure should make it possible for those voices to serve.

Overall, having more, smaller wards would make it more achievable for councillors to properly serve their area, rather than two people, who sometimes do not get along at all, trying to coordinate serving a larger area and risking some residents falling through the cracks.

These changes are entirely achievable with a council that is willing to move beyond the status quo and put Guelph residents first. My promise to you is to improve the health of our local democracy to ensure that everyone's voices are heard and properly represented at Council.