What Factors accont for the longevity of Conservative Party rule in Ontario in the post – part 2
Posted by admin in Description EssayMunicipal councils in Ontario were composed of pragmatic grass-roots working and lower-middle-class politicians, each of whom controlled a neighbourhood fiefdom. They were not concerned with efficiency, since inefficiencies, "sweetheart" municipal contracts, and the diversion of public funds to supporters kept them in power. During this period, the labour movement recruited millions of immigrant industrial workers. In many Canadian cities the party machine and organized labour existed in a symbiotic relationship, each using the other to further its own ends.
Labour’s attempts to seize power at the local level, political machines thriving on governmental inefficiency, skyrocketing municipal deficits, city bureaucracies bloated with political appointees, and elected ward councils comprising neighbourhood politicians unconcerned about broader public issues–all were anathema to the business community, the upper-middle class, and many academics. An astute observer of the Canadian political scene writes that these critics and reformers held the view: “. . . that urban problems were apolitical, requiring little more than the application of honesty and good business practices. This perspective manifested itself in an emphasis on efficiency and economy as the prime goals of city government and the belief that . . . professionals, experts, and the well educated . . . were more fit to govern than others.” (Atkinson 1993)
The reformers viewed the political machine with its attendant evils as the problem; the solution was to replace it with a businesslike system of government. Specifically, the reformers advocated that (1) party politics be replaced by nonpartisan elections; (2) neighbourhood or ward representatives on council be replaced by councillors elected from the city at large; (3) the political franchise be restricted solely to the middle and upper-middle classes, that is, to people who had a substantial stake in the community and paid property taxes; and (4) municipal government be run like a private corporation. (Nossal 1989)
Concurrent with the rise of nonpartisanship in Ontario was a movement away from ward politics to the election of councillors at large. As the two movements reinforced each other, working- and lower-middle-class council members were replaced by business people, professionals, and members of the middle class. Although the reformers were unable to restrict the political franchise, they did maintain the status quo. Although party machines never developed in Canadian cities to the same extent as in the United States, partisan politics and the occasional municipal scandal occurred in some communities late in the nineteenth century. (Coleman et al 1990)
