P Andrew Coyne: Rob Ford’s good shot at re-election another example why we need to reform voting system natpo.st/11GbgQu So, just to catch you up with all the latest on Toronto’s mayor: The police were reportedly aware of the infamous video of the mayor allegedly smoking crack weeks before it was shown to the Toronto Star; the mayor’s name is also reported to have been mentioned in discussions picked up on police wiretaps, part of a year-long investigation culminating in this week’s massive raid on an apartment complex in the city’s western suburbs — the same one where the mayor is reported to have told staff the video could be found. Andrew Coyne: Toronto voting proposal might be last shot at electoral reform in Canada Sometime later this spring a small bomb is set to go off in Toronto. Don’t be alarmed: I mean only a vote of the city council. But it is a vote with potentially ground-shaking implications. The proposal to come before Toronto’s councillors, probably in May, would change the method by which they are elected, from the first past the post system in use at all levels of government in Canada to a ranked or preferential ballot. On the surface this would change little. Instead of marking an “x” on their ballots voters would rank candidates in order of preference: 1, 2, 3… But its adoption by Canada’s largest city could change a great deal — not only in Toronto but across the country. Continue reading… Two of the three men pictured with the mayor in a photo taken outside a notorious local drug den inhabited by a high school friend of the mayor were arrested in the raid; the third was shot dead outside a downtown nightclub in March. The house was invaded days after the photo was first published by a man armed with a pipe who beat up the inhabitants. Oh, and the city’s police chief refuses to say whether the mayor is under criminal investigation. Now for the bad news. If an election were held today, the mayor would have a good shot at re-election. As of late May, more than a week after the story of the alleged crack video broke, Rob Ford still had the approval of 42% of Toronto voters. In a probable four- or five-person race, that would very likely be enough to win. That is, in an election run under the current “first past the post” system it would: to win, a candidate need not have a majority of the vote, but only more votes than his rivals. That’s true of any candidate, and any election, of course. But where an electorate is sharply divided, whether on lines of class or race or what have you, first past the post rewards the candidate who can best exploit that polarization to his advantage: who presents himself as best able to defend “us” against “them,” and by such appeals to tribal solidarity locks down a block of intensely loyal supporters who will turn up to vote no matter what. It values depth of support, that is, rather than breadth. And since that is the type of candidate it rewards, that is the type of candidate it produces.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Jun 2013 03:03:14 +0000
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