Recommendations for municipal election reform accepted by St. John's committee

The City of St. John's committee of the whole has approved seven recommendations regarding the way municipal campaigns and elections are held, a year and a half after the recommendations were made.

Mayor Danny Breen was one of four council members on an internal committee established to review recommendations in a 2018 report on electoral reform by the Citizens' Assembly for Stronger Elections.

"After we went through it [the CASE report] and looked at all of the different recommendations in areas, it became apparent to us that we needed to get some outside input on it," Breen said.

Council approve a panel with expertise in the area of electoral reform to conduct its own investigation. The committee of the whole voted to adopt the recommendations made based on the panel's findings.

The report from CASE was given to city council in the summer of 2018 but the committee felt a deeper examination was required. About a year later the four-person panel was approved, with their findings presented to council on Sept. 30, 2019.

The panel recommends council:

• Amend election laws regarding disclosure of contributions/expenditures and expenditure caps, reduce and eventually eliminate corporate/union donations, and limit the time in which contributions can be made.
• Retain its current structure.
• Work with Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador to lobby the province to allow more voting options.
• Continue to engage with the public on ways to improve accessibility, diversity and voter turnout.
• Work with Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador to see if there is interest in lobbying the province to allow permanent residents of Canada to vote, even if they aren't citizens yet.
• Work with Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador to see if there is interest on their part in lobbying the provincial government to reduce residency requirements for voting eligibility from 30 days to 21 days.
• Approve the continued use of election signage in campaigning efforts.

Councillors Maggie Burton, Ian Froude and Dave Lane were the other three members of the internal committee. All seven of their recommendations were adopted, five of them unanimously.

The recommendations will be voted on by city council itself at an upcoming regular meeting, most likely on March 9.

Breen says his time on the electoral reform committee caused him to examine his own feelings about the electoral process.

"When it came to limiting the sources that you can get for campaign contributions I was certainly looking at it from my own perspective," Breen said. "But I began to look at it from a different perspective, seeing that there was a movement to not allow corporate and union contributions. I see that was something that was a barrier to new candidates."

Some pushback

Of the seven recommendations to be adopted, the first and most contentious recommendation dealt with several suggested amendments to the Election Finance By-Law. 

Coun. Wally Collins and Coun. Sandy Hickman opposed the recommendation over an amendment that would reduce the limit for a financial contribution considered a donation from $250 to $100.

Breen said the newly adopted recommendations are necessary to deal with what he considers legitimate concerns from the electorate about campaign finances.

The recommendation to continue using election signage in campaigns received the only other pushback, with a vote of opposition from Hickman.

Detailed information about the recommendations, as well as the original CASE report are available online in Wednesday's agenda.

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