Fixing B.C.'s broken local elections
Local politics are broken in British Columbia
Local politics are broken in many cities in British Columbia, but especially in Vancouver and Surrey.
Councillors in B.C.’s two biggest cities are often invisible and impossible to contact. We all know these councils invest a lot more in taxpayer money in some neighbourhoods while virtually ignoring others.
Worse still, city councillors are almost always white despite our amazingly diverse population.
Local elections are broken in British Columbia
Local politics in our big cities are broken because our local elections are broken.
Vancouver and Surrey are the only big Canadian cities where councillors are elected using at-large elections.
In federal and provincial elections in British Columbia cities are divided into constituencies, with one MP or MLA elected by local voters in each of these districts.
But in municipal at-large elections, each councillor campaigns across the entire city in order to get elected as there are no districts. As a result you have no local representative.
Mile-long ballots make it impossible to learn anything about candidates who have to raise and spend millions to get their message out.
We’re going to court to fix our broken local elections
Despite many efforts to get rid of at-large elections those in power have done everything they can to keep these discriminatory systems.
That’s why we are trying something new.
We imported at-large elections from the United States a hundred years ago. Now we are again going to follow their lead to get rid of them.
U.S. democratic activists tried for years to get rid of at-large elections through campaigns and rallies, but they only succeeded when they started going to court in the 1970s.
Since then, American courts have struck down hundreds of local at-large voting systems for discriminating against minority groups and other reasons -- with no major US city currently using a pure at-large electoral system.
We need your help
Going to court is expensive, but we are determined to move ahead. We’ve secured a great team of lawyers and already undertaken a first round of preparation thanks to your generosity.
We will soon be filing in court and making our case in front of a judge. We appreciate anything you might be able to pitch in - from $5 to $5,000.
By donating, we’ll keep you up to date with inside information as to our progress including online sessions and chats. Together, we can fix our broken local politics.