Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainYooh
I've said this before already. No ward system removes the need for localized lobbying (in primitive terms: you vote for something in my ward and I will support a motion for something in yours). It also eliminates getting elected based on a single item platform. We are electing municipal government that will run the whole city. Ward system allows amoeba-like politicians like Linda Fox-Mellway, Craig Burrows, Barry Erskine and Patti Grier to get elected and re-elected many times despite their complete luck of issue comprehension. I can go on and on.
The argument of difficulties for candidates from "not too trendy areas" expressed by someone earlier is invalid. In reality, any large group - local or ethnic - can rally behind a candidate, trendy or not, if they really want him or her elected just like they would under the ward system.
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Is localization really a bad thing though? The municipal government is the last level of government and the one that is closest to the people, does it not make sense to make it the most accessible?
While it does allow for the possibility of dysfunction at times when a holistic outlook is required, I think it is a preferable problem to the one created in systems that have macro-factions instead of micro-factions. The inner-city versus outer-city divide is starting to loom large, imagine what it would be like with the system you propose. How much attention would the little yet important local ward issues receive?