Three years ago, Toronto City Council asked the provincial government to allow them to use ranked ballots for local elections.  A few months later, eight thousand people signed a petition asking the province to respect the request.

In 2014 the Ontario government promised that, if re-elected, they would allow all 444 municipalities to use ranked ballots. 

After a year of public consultations, it seems the government is finally ready to move forward on their promise.  The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has just announced that they'll be making a major announcement about municipal democratic reform.  Here are the details:

"Please join us at our upcoming event where Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Ted McMeekin will make an announcement about important changes Ontario is intending to introduce to give municipalities more local choice in future municipal elections."
 
What:    Changes Ontario is intending to propose to the Municipal Elections Act
 
When:   Monday April 4th, 2016
              Noon
 
Where:  Pitman Hall Residence, Room 110
              Ryerson University
           

The event is open to the public - we hope you can join us!  This is a historic moment for the voting reform movement in Ontario.

They aren't releasing many details yet, but we're hoping that the Minister will be introducing new legislation and we're also hopeful that the new proposed rules will allow for ranked ballots to be used by all municipalities, either in single-member districts or in multi-member districts.  We'll find out on Monday!