[BRIEF NOTE] On democracy and representation in medium-sized cities

[rfmcdonald]

Nissology PEI recently linked to citizen journalist site NJN Network which linked to Tim Bousquet's editorial in Halifax (Nova Scotia) weekly The Coast, "'Appalling' democracy". There's apparently been debate in the Halifax Regional Municipality--the largest municipality by population in Atlantic Canada--on reducing the number of elected representatives, so as to streamline the political system and increase voter turnout. That's a bad idea, Bousquet argues; Prince Edward Island comes up.

Last week, councillor Tim Outhit used the example of Prince Edward Island, population 130,000, which has 27 elected members in its legislature. This compares to HRM's population of about 400,000, which has 23 elected councillors. PEI's arrangement is "appalling," said Outhit.

But voter turnout on PEI has been over 80 percent in 12 of the last 13 provincial elections (the 13th had "just" 78 percent), and PEI consistently has among the highest voter turnout of any jurisdiction in North America. In comparison, even with a celebrated internet and phone voting system that made it painless to vote, in the last Halifax election voter turnout plummeted to a record low 37 percent. I'd say it's Halifax's turnout that is appalling, not PEI's.

To be sure, a lot determines voter turnout rates, including demographics, history and, in PEI's case until very recently, a scandalous tradition of spoils (a tradition shared by Nova Scotia). Maybe it's not fair to look at that one example.

So I asked Bobby O'Keefe, who works at the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, the right-wing think-tank based in Halifax, what he thought. Using data AIMS has collected, O'Keefe took 10 Canadian cities with populations between 200,000 and 500,000 and looked at the population per council district and voter turnout. His conclusion: "The more people you've got for each councillor, the lower voter turnout tends to be. Is the number the only thing at play? No, of course not. But if you want your city's citizens engaged, taking away voices from the council table might not be the best path."

O'Keefe's post is here.