What are wards and why do we want them?
A ward is basically a neighborhood. A "ward system" is a way of electing city council persons neighborhood-by-neighborhood. In a ward system city council people will be elected from each neighborhood and they will live in the neighborhood that they represent. Right now, city council members are not elected by the people in their neighborhoods.
They are elected "at-large." An at-large system means that everyone in the city votes for a few people and the top vote-getters are elected. That's the only way the current city council can get elected because they don't actually represent the people of New Brunswick. They only care about their wealthy friends, corporations, and rich construction companies. That’s why our telephone calls are not returned, our questions are not answered, our schools don’t work for our children, and we have never seen a city councilperson in our neighborhood.
In an at-large voting system everything is determined by the number of dollars you have to spend. Times are tough and few New Brunswick residents have the amount of money it takes to reach all 50,000 residents. A ward system is different though because you campaign without having big bucks. In a ward system the respect of your neighbors and your service to the community is more important than the size of your bank account. Our friends and neighbors may not be rich, but they know us and we know them.
Here is what people have said about wards:
Most everybody has gone to some kind of ward system. As cities have evolved, and technology and communication have gotten more advanced, the cities have gone to wards because they’re more efficient and they work better. There are fewer layers between people and their government.
- John Pionke, spokesman for the National League of Cities
At-large elections inherently discriminate against minorities and become a way for majority population to keep minorities out of office...
- United States Department of Justice/Boston College political science Professor Kay Schlozman
More than any city campaign in years, the wards vote brought the city's establishment into open conflict with scrappy, populist types such as the Roanoke Education Association and the NAACP. Powerful lawyers, wealthy Roanokers and business executives worked hard against wards.
- http://savecountryside.blogspot.com/2007/11/ward-system-for-governing-ro...
The ward system shattered the glass ceiling. Guelph went on to elect its first woman mayor in 2000. Prior to 1991, there were few and in most cases no women on city council. In 2000, all the women, who were elected, placed first in their respective races. In 2003, for the first time in Guelph's history, the majority of councillors are women.
- http://www.goforwards.ca/history.html
