12 Wards
Today City Council will take another kick at the single councillor ward 
question. As has been the case every other time Council has considered this, the maps have provoked a flurry of speculation (and a bit of posturing) about who might run where.
Word down the council hallway (and my own take) is that these maps are a much better interpretation of the Ward Boundary Design Policy than previous iterations, and so this stands a chance of actually passing tomorrow.
For the record, I’ve consistently supported this move prior to seeing any maps.
On principle, I think the duplication between councillors will be reduced when dealing with constituency issues, allowing each of us greater focus on serving the wards. I also think our elections will be more competitive with only 63,000 people to reach instead of, well, double that. Finally, the significant number of Edmontonians I encounter who do not realize there are two of us per ward today signals that something’s not right with the current system.
On a personal (and speculative) note, the proposed boundaries present me with a tough decision since my family is now living in Belgravia, which was one of three neighbourhoods skimmed off the north end of current ward five and lumped in with parts of current ward four and six to make the proposed ward eight (comprising University, Strathcona, Bonnie Doon, Capilano). However, I also have deep roots in the proposed ward ten (Southgate, Kaskitayo) where I grew up, and I’m only a couple of blocks from the boundary. So, presuming I run again in 2010, I’ll have a difficult decision about where to do it.
6 thoughts on “12 Wards”
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I think the twelve ward system will be a positive step towards improving democracy in our city. I will be keeping an eye on the twitter play-by-play tomorrow.
In a perfect world this is a better plan than the current system. However, this is not a perfect world and I don’t see any way of getting around the fact that if you end up in a ward with a councillor who is lousy or with whom you don’t see eye-to-eye you are out of luck. You have no other option.
I prefer having two representatives.
I guess you’ll have to cross that road when you come to it. Progressive candidates have won federally and provincially across both of those wards, so you shouldn’t have a problem finding support in either.