Elections
Do you support term limits for municipal politicians? Why or why not?
Responses to the question: "Do you support term limits for municipal politicians? Why or why not?"
In This Page:
20 Candidate Responses (top)
| Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Brief Response | Full Response |
| Erik Coverdale | No | The Green Party supports transparency. Term limits are designed to reduce corruption and favoritism. In a transparent government they should not be necessary. Public support (voters) should be the deciding factor at the municipal level. |
| Glenn Langton | No | Libertarians support Choice, therefore if the people want term limits on their municipal leaders then they should have term limits, if not then they won't, this should not be a decision of elected representatives but a decision made by those they serve. |
| Robert Maton | Yes | Yes, I would advocate a limit of two or three terms. In this election it is clear that entrenched interests and elected officials in some areas are able to work together to shape the agenda, reward supporters, and give themselves an advantage in elections. |
| Ted McMeekin | No | No, I believe voters are mature enough to make a decision as to who and how long to support their local representative. |
| Trevor Westerhoff | Maybe | Ontario's NDP believes that measures are needed to enhance democratic participation and accountability at the municipal level. Too often, municipal politicians are beholden to big donors such as developers rather than the needs of their constituents. The NDP proposed stronger restrictions on municipal donations such as reducing donation amounts and banning loans to candidates. These were defeated by the McGuinty government. |
| Hamilton Centre | ||
| Candidate | Brief Response | Full Response |
| Andrea Horwath | Maybe | Ontario's NDP believes that measures are needed to enhance democratic participation and accountability at the municipal level. Too often, municipal politicians are beholden to big donors such as developers rather than the needs of their constituents. The NDP proposed stronger restrictions on municipal donations such as reducing donation amounts and banning loans to candidates. These were defeated by the McGuinty government. |
| Christopher Lawson | Maybe | As a candidate for the Provincial Legislature, it might be intrusive for me to promote a specific opinion on matters of municipal operations. I do promote public input in a democratic system. I suggest that a responsible municipal politician will see a possible opportunity to create a public referendum of some nature to address this issue. |
| Michael Baldasaro | Yes | I believe a politicians tenure should be permitted to go on for no more than 1 generation, 10 years. |
| Peter Ormond | Maybe | It depends. Don't the voters decide each election with their vote?
I've run in four elections, and the challenge for me is that people don't really know the policy differences between the parties that they're voting for. At the municipal level, we have the same lack of understanding about what a politician stands for. We need mechanisms to educate eachother (including politicians) about the real issues, and present real solutions to those issues. That's why I run for the Greens - otherwise our voice is not heard. In today's fast-paced world, these messages have not been relayed, and hence Hamilton is stuck with a system that is not state-of-the-art. During election campaigns, forums should be arranged that 'tell' all candidates the realities of our system, and then ask them what they or their parties will do about the issue. This will educate everyone... For additional information, here are some of the Green Party policy highlights: 1. Meet the promised upload of $1.5 billion in social service and court security costs by 2018. 2. Not download costs, or add new ones to Ontario's limited property tax base. 3. Create a separate, new, predictable and permanent fund for municipal roads and bridges once the budget is balanced, and we will provide funding for municipalities to invest in safe roads and trails for active transportation. 4. Make permanent Provincial Gas Tax revenue of about $318 million for transit. 5. Work with you to revise the arbitration process to ensure transparency, and to require consideration of local circumstances and government's ability to pay when deciding public sector wage settlements. 6. Seek your advice in developing solutions to protect taxpayers from excessive insurance claims. 7. Commit to shifting the tax burden for waste disposal from municipal property taxpayers to industry through extended producer responsibility laws. 8. Advocate for tools for collecting $1 billion in unpaid Provincial Offences Act fines 9. Consolidate housing programs with current funding to allow more local decision making and seek innovative partnerships with the private sector to increase the availability of affordable housing. 10. Not introduce property assessment or taxation caps. The Green Party supports establishing a legislative committee to study best practices for reforming and improving the property tax system, with special consideration of moving to a system of Land Value Taxation in order to eliminate inaccurate and arbitrary property assessments, deter speculative land holding, reduce abandoned lots and encourage job creating property improvements. 11. Provide clear, fair energy policy that supports sound planning and investment in our electricity system. The Green Party will prioritize investments in energy efficiency and conservation to reduce the effects of rising energy prices. We will strengthen the Feed-in Tariff program to require local ownership, local decision making and local financial benefits for energy projects. We will establish a transparent timeline for FIT pricing reviews and reductions. 12. Support a review of the Development Charges Act so that growth pays for itself without unsustainable burdens on property taxpayers. |
| Robert Kuhlmann | No | As long as the electorate thinks the person in question is doing a good job at representing their interests, they will continue to vote for them. By what right do we believe we have the right to refuse them the right to exercise that choice? Telling others what to do"for their own good" is never for their own good but for the good of others. It's unfair competition; the start on the long slow slope toward totalitarianism and it's done in the name of freedom and fairness. Fair to whom? Certainly not to the persons prohibited from participating in the electoral process or those who would vote for them. |
| Hamilton East-Stoney Creek | ||
| Candidate | Brief Response | Full Response |
| Bob Green Innes | Yes | Again, the FCP has no position on this but I believe term limits are needed to restore democracy and reduce corporate influence. Term limits should be applied to councilors, trustees, MPPs and MPs but not to Mayors or party leaders. Going further, I really think a complete overhaul of our democratic institutions is needed. I take an avid interest in Athenian Democracy (see Wikipedia) which technology might make practical. Lottery selection (as in Jury Duty) would eliminate corruption and corporate manipulation. The previous attempt to have MMP (mixed member proportional) should be revisited. Voting should be mandatory as in Australia. Open government is an idea whose time has come. |
| Mark Cripps | Yes | As editor of Hamilton Community News, I have written many editorials about this in the past. We need to engage citizens in local democracy. Voter turnout in municipal elections is so low these days. New people, new ideas. New energy. |
| Paul Miller | Maybe | Ontario's NDP believes that measures are needed to enhance democratic participation and accountability at the municipal level. Too often, municipal politicians are beholden to big donors such as developers rather than the needs of their constituents. The NDP proposed stronger restrictions on municipal donations such as reducing donation amounts and banning loans to candidates. These were defeated by the McGuinty government. |
| W. Peter Randall | Yes | Oh thank you for asking!!! I have long believed in three term limits for all politicians in ANY post in this country.
Having served two terms myself as a Municipal Councillor, I can tell you first hand that human nature sees most become very complacent in their jobs and comfortable with a sense of entitlement. They know too many people and owe too many people favours. We all become set in our ways and resistant to change. Lifer politicians can generally be heard quoting ‘We did this in 1973 and it worked just fine, let’s do it now’. Truth is we need vibrant new solutions and people have such great trouble beating these entrenched incumbent s that many solid candidates do not even come forward. The best councils or groups or boards are a mix of female/male, young/old, immigrant/Canadian. Those repressing seniors, those representing a group with young children and those representing pre-child bearing years. With fixed three term maximums at the municipal, provincial and federal levels we would see more heated and more interesting races for top jobs like Mayor and we would see deadwood and complacency removed and make way for some sorely need bright new ideas and approaches. |
| Hamilton Mountain | ||
| Candidate | Brief Response | Full Response |
| Hans Wienhold | Yes | Well, I am going to get a little personal here. You see, I drive a cab in the City of Hamilton. As such, my fortunes are determined by the decisions made by municipal politicians because they regulate the local taxi business.
Their regulations to date have resulted in the average taxi driver in Hamilton earning significantly less than the minimum wage.... about $40 or $50 dollars per day.... if that. I would therefore support pegging a politician's salary to that of the average taxi driver. Trust me. In such a scenario... the terms for municipal politicians would be highly self-limiting. |
| Monique Taylor | Maybe | Ontario's NDP believes that measures are needed to enhance democratic participation and accountability at the municipal level. Too often, municipal politicians are beholden to big donors such as developers rather than the needs of their constituents. The NDP proposed stronger restrictions on municipal donations such as reducing donation amounts and banning loans to candidates. These were defeated by the McGuinty government. |
| Sophia Aggelonitis | No | The Municipal Elections Act (MEA) is reviewed after every municipal election and a review is currently underway. The review is done in consultation with a number of key municipal-sector partners, Elections Ontario and the public. Ontario Liberals do not believe in imposing rules governing the municipal sector without engaging in meaningful consultations. Should the municipal sector request term limits for those seeking office, we would consider their request as part of the MEA consultation. |
| Tony Morris | No | The Green Party does not support term limits for municipal councilors. Local councils need experienced members that have time to learn the difficulty of governing in a municipal setting as well as developing an opportunity to become great councillors. Term limits would effectively prevent good councilors from retaining their positions even if the public supports them. Eliminating corporate and union donations to provincial and municipal campaigns, can be used to dissolve some of the advantages that an incumbent has. |
| Niagara West-Glanbrook | ||
| Candidate | Brief Response | Full Response |
| Anthony Marco | Maybe | Ontario's NDP believes that measures are needed to enhance democratic participation and accountability at the municipal level. Too often, municipal politicians are beholden to big donors such as developers rather than the needs of their constituents. The NDP proposed stronger restrictions on municipal donations such as reducing donation amounts and banning loans to candidates. These were defeated by the McGuinty government. |
| Geoff Peacock | No | All politicians should be elected but it is up to the people to decide if they want to keep electing them. |
Response Summary (top)
| Brief Response | Count | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 6 | 30.0% |
| No | 7 | 35.0% |
| Maybe | 7 | 35.0% |
22 Candidates Have Not Responded (top)
| Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale | ||
|---|---|---|
| Donna Skelly | ||
| Peter Melanson | ||
| Rick Gundermann | ||
| Hamilton Centre | ||
| Anthony Gracey | ||
| Don Sheppard | ||
| Donna Tiqui-Shebib | ||
| Robert Szajkowski | ||
| Steven Passmore | ||
| Hamilton East-Stoney Creek | ||
| Gregg Pattinson | ||
| Nancy Fiorentino | ||
| Philip Doucette | ||
| Silas Khokar | ||
| Hamilton Mountain | ||
| Brian Goodwin | ||
| Geordie Elms | ||
| Jim Enos | ||
| Trevor Pettit | ||
| Niagara West-Glanbrook | ||
| Gerry Augustine | ||
| Katie Trombetta | ||
| Marty Poos | ||
| Meredith Cross | ||
| Rob Wienhold | ||
| Tim Hudak | ||
