Voters in London will become the first in Canada to use a ranked ballot voting system in a municipal election when they head to the polls next week.

It’s the first year the Ontario government has given municipalities the option to use a ranked voting system in local elections, and the Association of Municipal Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario says London is the only city that’s implementing it.

Craig Wellington, the association’s director of programs and services, says other cities will be looking at London’s experience in deciding whether to introduce the measure for the next election cycle.

Two other Ontario cities – Cambridge and Kingston – have referendum questions on their ballots about whether to implement a ranked voting system for the 2022 election.

The system, which was considered an option when the Trudeau government was planning to implement federal electoral reform, lets voters rank candidates instead of voting for a single person, giving the winning candidate a much higher percentage of the vote.

Experts say Ontario is the only province that allows ranked voting for municipal elections, though Nova Scotia Premier Brian Gallant floated the idea of implementing such a system for provincial elections in 2015.

London city clerk Cathy Saunders says her city implemented the system after consultations with the public.

Ontario residents head to the polls on Oct. 22.

(The Canadian Press)

Filed under: municipal election 2018