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:
4 Candidate Responses (top)
| 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. |
Response Summary (top)
| Brief Response | Count | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 3 | 75.0% |
| No | 0 | 0.0% |
| Maybe | 1 | 25.0% |
4 Candidates Have Not Responded (top)
| Hamilton East-Stoney Creek | ||
|---|---|---|
| Gregg Pattinson | ||
| Nancy Fiorentino | ||
| Philip Doucette | ||
| Silas Khokar | ||
