Halifax election candidates call for term limits for councillors
The idea of an incumbent advantage 'ridiculous,' long-time councillor says
Five of the candidates hoping to win a seat at Halifax city hall this October are calling for term limits as a way to bring new voices to council chambers, but critics say the idea is undemocratic.
Carlos Beals in District 6, Brenden Sommerhalder in District 8, Shawn Cleary in District 9, Pamela Lovelace in District 13, and Lisa Blackburn in District 14 held a joint news conference in Halifax on Sept. 13 where they called for 12-year term limits for municipal councillors.
Brenden Sommerhalder in Peninsula North said if you look at the results from the last two municipal elections in Halifax, councillors who ran again won approximately 90 per cent of the time.
Little support for new candidates
Sommerhalder said the incumbent advantage is exacerbated because there are no political parties at the municipal level to support new candidates.
"The process of running a municipal campaign is expensive, emotional, and demands a lot on your personal network," he said, adding you can only rely on those family and friends who "you're willing to rope in to help you."
Incumbents, on the other time, have had four years to build up a profile, a list of contacts, and to win favour by funding local projects using their annual discretionary funds, Sommerhalder said.
Incumbent advantage 'ridiculous'
Gloria McCluskey, who is retiring this year after representing Dartmouth Centre for 12 years — and serving as the Mayor of Dartmouth before that — said the idea that incumbents have an inherent advantage is "ridiculous."
"I beat an incumbent twice in my elections," she said. Residents set the term limit every time they vote, McCluskey said. "You're doing a good job, your term is extended; you're doing a poor job, it ends."
"I think it's ridiculous for those people to be going around, wanting to take the vote away from the general public," she said. "That's what it boils down to. If you've served your time, the residents will tell you that."
'Same old faces'
Lisa Blackburn, who is running against the incumbent in Middle/Upper Sackville–Beaver Bank–Lucasville, said a lack of term limits cuts down on voter engagement overall and keeps people home on election day.
"People aren't interested because it's the same old faces and the same old names that they're seeing time and time again," she said. "Look at our current council. Where's the diversity? It doesn't reflect the true nature of HRM."
Blackburn said term limits "would encourage more people with more diverse backgrounds to step up and put their name forward" as candidates.
Value in turnover
The outgoing councillor for Peninsula North, Jennifer Watts, is sticking by her promise to leave municipal politics after two terms. Watts said there's value in seeing turnover in the council chambers.
"New people will bring forward new strengths," she said.
Watts said when long-time councillors continue to run, it discourages new people from giving it a try. In her case, she said she never would have run if she had been up against an incumbent.
Continuity matters
Russell Walker is running again after representing the riding of Halifax–Bedford Basin West for 22 years. He said you have to learn how the system works before you can really be effective, and every time an experienced councillor leaves, it's a loss.
"It takes you at least three years to get into the groove of actually knowing what a councillor does and how to get things moved forward," Walker said.
Watts disagrees. "The idea that, you know, there's a huge learning curve and people don't bring value because they're new, I don't actually think it's true," she said.
It's common for an experienced councillor to shut down an idea from a newcomer saying, "No, we've tried that before and it doesn't work," Watts said, but then, "It happens and then it works."
With files from CBC's Information Morning