Opinion Martin Regg Cohn: It’s nonsense to argue Olivia Chow’s win is invalid. But there’s a better way to count votes
An election clears the air going forward. But looking back, it’s now easier to see through the fog of the battle in a sometimes mythical mayoral race.Olivia Chow is to be Toronto’s mayor, empowered by a solid mandate.
This perversion of the process is nonsense. As much as I exhort people to cast their ballot in every campaign, I always remind them that refusing their vote means renouncing their voice post-election.Under our rules, the candidate with more votes than any rival wins the reins of power. It is an irony of our democracy that many Chow supporters who are rightly defending her margin of victory today were righteously downplaying— which his Progressive Conservatives won fairly and squarely with 40.
That’s how Ford became leader of his PC party — through a similar ranked ballot process. It was slated to be tried out at the municipal level until Ford’s provincial government aborted the process. If Toronto were to institute a ranked ballot, a more manageable list of candidates would be even more important. And in a regular municipal election, where councillors and trustees are also in contention, a streamlined ballot is essential .provided much ammunition but also exaggeration. While the premier has been nothing if not nettlesome and meddlesome in municipal politics, it is a misreading of his record to predict he will be pugnacious going forward.
The pollsters couldn’t have been more wrong when they repeatedly described Chow as “unbeatable.” In fact, she was eminently beatable, even if she beat back a remarkable challenge in the home-stretch.
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