If You Own & Pay Property Taxes Then You Should Be Able To Vote

If you are paying the freight then you should have input into how it is delivered. Can it get any worse at the municipal level when it comes to voter turnout? Municipalities don't, even though some think they do, have the power to shape world affairs and international agreements but they do have input into the maintenance and safety of the infra-structure, policing, garbage collection, etc. As far as holding office I really haven't made up my mind although I didn't think clowns had a particular ethnic persona. I have to admit the following poll results surprises me:

Should non-citizens be allowed to vote in municipal elections?
Yes 196 votes (9 %)
No 1940 votes (91 %)
Total Votes: 2136

It is almost as if a lot of people are concerned about losing their place at the trough.

Campaign to allow non-citizen voting kicks off
CTV.ca News Staff

A campaign lobbying the Ontario government to allow Torontonians who are not yet Canadian citizens to vote in local elections kicked off with a panel discussion at City Hall this week.

"About 263,000 residents of Toronto are excluded from the democratic process in our city because they cannot vote and cannot seek elected office. This needs to change," Councillor Janet Davis said in her opening remarks on Wednesday night.

"I want to live in a city which has a culture of participation and engagement, where racism and discrimination no longer thrive," Davis said at Toronto City Hall.

The forum, which was attended by about 150 people, featured representatives of the Canadian Arab Federation; the Maytree Foundation; the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants; and Toronto Women's Call to Action.

The panelists discussed the relationship between poverty, gender, immigration and electoral participation, as well as the lack of mechanisms to increase the diversity of political representation.

The panelists all endorsed extending the vote to all residents, a stance backed by Mayor David Miller in last year's local election.

"An active democracy requires the ability of all residents to influence the actions of government -- including the right to vote," Davis said.

But it is up to the province to change the voting rules, and so far no political party has adopted the idea.

Last fall, Premier Dalton McGuinty expressed his hesitance. "I know very well new immigrants are eager to gain this right," he told reporters at the time. "But it's a right that comes with citizenship."

On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for NDP Leader Howard Hampton told The Globe and Mail that "the caucus is in the process of discussing it."

Brendan Howe, a spokesman for Opposition Leader John Tory, also told the newspaper, "We want to have a thoughtful examination of the issue before a decision is made."

Ryerson University political science professor Myer Siemiatycki, who also attended the forum, told The Globe there is a long way to go before Toronto is a city "where everybody counts."

In a study of 140 Toronto neighbourhoods in the 2003 municipal election, Siemiatycki found the top 20 in voter turnout had an average participation of 47 per cent, average incomes of $103,000 and 30 per cent of immigrants.

The lowest 20 neighbourhoods had an average voter turnout of 28 per cent, incomes of $51,000 and 61 per cent of immigrants.