Ban municipal election donations from businesses

As the municipal elections draw near, the Green Party of Ontario is calling for a ban on municipal election donations from businesses. Most donations from municipal election campaigns have come from developers, which has been a significant factor in the car-dependent sprawl surrounding our cities and towns.

In addition the Green Party of Ontario is also advocating life-long participation in democracy by lowering the municipal voting age from 18 to 16 years of age and increasing electoral education in our schools. We already allow people who own property in a municipality but do not live there to vote in municipal elections. This right should also be extended to include non-Canadian citizens. It’s time to allow more people to vote.

The Liberals have required that 60% of Ontarians choose our electoral system, forgetting that they were elected with only 46% of the vote. Setting the threshold at 60% for implementing an electoral system is following the disastrous path of the 2005 British Columbia referendum. On May 17, 2005, over 57% of BC voters voted for change yet, because of a 60% threshold, the 43% minority ruled the day. At the same time, the BC Liberals were awarded with a solid majority government while receiving less than 46% of the popular vote across the province. This is a blatant double standard. It's time for electoral reform and democratic renewal in Ontario.

The Green Party of Ontario Toronto Centre Consitiuency Association will be hosting its monthly meeting on Tuesday, November 21. This will be followed by a presentation by the Executive Director of Fair Vote Canada, Larry Gordon on electoral reform and democratic renewal. Hope to see you there. Details are below.

Mike McLean
President, GPO Toronto Centre CA