Why doesn't municipal politics divide along party lines?

[bradm]

For some reason this question occurred to me today: in federal and provincial politics/legislatures in Canada, the party affiliations of representatives loom pretty large, and the legislatures themselves are organized/divided along party lines (with most members voting with their parties on most votes).

But this isn't the case for municipal politices, at least as far as I've observed. I don't recall any Toronto (where I lived, 1967-1991) or Ottawa (where I've lived since 1991) mayor, for example, including his or party affiliation in his or her campaign. Similarly, I've never heard about a vote at a city council being described in terms of which party's members are going to vote which way on it.

Why is this? Is it because most city councils are a lot smaller than federal or provincial legislatures? Is it because the issues they deal with are more operational (or "small-scale") than ideological (or "large-scale")? Is it something else?

Aloha,

Brad

[d_rawk]

I think you nailed it pretty well in terms of the type/scale of the issues and the types of organizing that they lend themselves to being mostly incompatible with the generally more pragmatic way that municipal politics seem to (and likely need to) operate.

I have a sense - though I am largely talking out of my ass here - that municipal politics require a peculiar sort of agility/nimbleness and broad co-operation that the higher levels of abstractions (provincial, federal) don't share.

Plus, there is just no way for a political party to register or officially operate at the local level. Some of that is probably just legacy and the political culture, but the fact that there has been no push to change this over the years to give parties a legitimate presence municipally is probably owing to the reality of those other factors you mentioned.

Another thought is that municipal politics attract a different sort of politician altogether, largely as a result of the attraction for active community members to jump in, roll up their sleeves and make some changes in the place that they live. So you probably end up with a lot of people who don't have a clear party affiliation to begin with, or even a deep political interest in the general sense, whose primary driving motivation is serving the public and the community in the immediate sense.

Couldn't imagine a party wanting to be involved with municipal politics, either, as it's hairy business and difficult or impossible to control from the top in a consistant way.

Now I ramble.

[Hux]

On the other hand - even though people don't run on a party ticket or officially "wear" an affiliation, party affiliation is often a big part of municipal politics.

The municipal council in my bosses riding is most definitely NDP as they are prominent provincial/federal members and often vote along these lines.

Municipal politics is often a career springboard for people who want to run provincially/federally so depending how they play (or don't play) their partisan cards at council can effect their prospects.

My point - you don't have to scratch too deep to find partisan politics in the municipal arena.

[AD]

bob chiarelli is a huge liberal

david miller just gave up his NDP membership

edit - you also gotta be kinda savvy when asking for money from the provincial and federal governments. mutual party affiliation can't hurt.

Edited April 30, 2007 by Guest

[djmelbatoast]

I've always thought that they intentionally leave off their party affiliation to discourage people from voting. Municipal elections only draw a fraction of the voter turn out as other elections. Without party affliation the only way for people to make a decision is on name recognition, unless of course you are really keen and do research on your own and go to debates, which gives an enourmous advantage to the incubants. I think this suits everyone just fine whether your towns municipal leaders are NDPers, Liberals or corprate whores like here in Nanaimo.

I hope this made sense.

[d_rawk]

Without party affliation the only way for people to make a decision is on name recognition, unless of course you are really keen and do research on your own and go to debates, which gives an enourmous advantage to the incubants. I think this suits everyone just fine whether your towns municipal leaders are NDPers, Liberals or corprate whores like here in Nanaimo.

Suits everyone, of course, except the non-incumbents

[StoneMtn]

In some municipal elections small "parties" do exist, but they're called "slates", and have different names than the parties with which we are familiar.

This is the case in Vancouver, and a few people tried to get that to happen in Whistler (without success).

[d_rawk]

Are they official, or are they a group of people saying that we have such-and-such basic affiliations/commonalities amongst each other in some unofficial way?

(begging forgiveness for my ignorance of local Vancouver politics)

[StoneMtn]

I believe they are officially registered in some way, but I don't know much about it; truth be told.