- We have a important level of government that is relatively unmonitored by senior governments, has no Auditor-General supervision, poor external policy support, weak press and citizen monitoring, and a poorly-enforced elections process suffering from declining voter turnout, that is almost wholly funded by candidates themselves or those most likely to financially gain from local government decisions.
- The Task Force should look to Manitoba's recently-enacted Municipal Conflict of Interest and Campaign Financing Act. It requires municipalities to set total election campaign expense limits, outlaws donations from non-individuals or from those outside the province (ie unions, corporations, and foreigners), and sets maximum donation limits of $750-$1500 per individual.
- Elections should be managed by the provincial Chief Electoral Officer, and should be held every four years, between the (now scheduled) provincial elections.
- Corporations should not have the right to vote. Corporations are legal entities created by government, while government itself is a creation of people freely assembled.
My submission to the Local Government Elections Task Force
I got this in just under the wire this week. My full submission is available here, but the summary is as below.
