Vancouver City Council |
MOTION ON NOTICE
Submitted by Councillor Sullivan for consideration at the Regular Council meeting on September 9, 2003.
3. Wards
MOVER: Councillor Sullivan
SECONDER: Councillor
WHEREAS this council has decided it will implement a ward system in 2005 despite the fact that the citizens voted in 1996 to maintain the at-large system by 59.4% and that COPE promised during the election campaign to hold a referendum in 2005;
This council has decided it will not allow citizens to decide in a referendum whether or not they want the ward system;
The previous NDP government through the Electoral Boundaries Commission engaged in an exhaustive and comprehensive review that cost many millions of dollars to create 10 provincial electoral boundaries all of which are within the city of Vancouver;
These boundaries were arrived at in 1999 after a long process of community consultations that included attention to issues such as community self identification, service catchment areas, demographics, diversity, etc.;
Creation of 10 electoral boundaries by the previous NDP provincial government was done specifically in anticipation of a ward system and was meant to be used as city ward boundaries;
This council has allocated $250,000 for its commission of which only a fraction would be used to determine ward boundaries;
Such an inadequate amount devoted to ward boundaries would result in conflicts between neighbourhoods and create the potential for gerrymandering;
The experiences of other cities with a mixed at-large/ward system have been problematic in that two classes of Councillors are created;
The mixed at-large/ward system would result in a more complex ballot;
The financial situation of the city is such that a proper process for developing new boundaries would be too costly for taxpayers;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that Vancouver City Council direct the Commission on Neighbourhood Constituencies and Local Democracy to give consideration as a preferred option the adoption of the 10 electoral boundaries created by the 1999 Electoral Boundaries Commission in its deliberations around the implementation of the ward system.
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