Lethbridge City Hall

By Connor Gunn

City of Lethbridge to examine possible ward system

Feb 1, 2022 | 3:24 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The City of Lethbridge will look into the possibility of moving to a ‘ward’ electoral system as early as the 2025 Municipal Election.

In its Gateway to Opportunity 2022 Action Plan released last month, the city outlined plans to investigate the ward system idea.

That review received further support on Tuesday as Lethbridge City Council voted unanimously to have City Administration provide a future report, for consideration, that will outline “the process to examine, develop options, decide and implement a ward system,” the release reads.

In the 2021 Municipal Elections, 55.69 per cent of residents voted yes to the non-binding ballot question, “Do you support using a Ward System to elect City Councilors (other than the Mayor) starting with the 2025 municipal election?”

At the Tuesday council meeting, Councillor John Middleton-Hope introduced the motion to highlight what a ward system may look like in the city.

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“Council would like further information on next steps to consider whether or not they want to proceed pursuing a ward system.”

“Initiating a ward system study has been identified both in Council’s recent Action Plan as well as during last fall’s Municipal Election, so we feel it is important to investigate what our options are in order to best represent Lethbridge residents moving forward.”

By the city’s definition, a ‘ward’ electoral system would see the city divided into smaller geographical electoral areas (wards) and electors would vote from a smaller list of candidates for a Councillor that wants to represent the ward that you live in. The method of election for the Mayor would continue to be a separate at-large vote.

Essentially, this means that councillors would represent a specific district rather than the entire city.

Currently, Lethbridge has an ‘at-large’ electoral system to elect Councillors which 44.31 per cent of the people who voted on the ballot question say they would like to keep in the city.

Additional details on the 2021 Municipal Election ballot question can be found at Question on the 2021 Municipal Ballot-Ward System.

Council has asked Administration to report back, through the Governance Standing Policy Committee, by April 30, 2022, on what legislative requirements, engagement, timelines, costs, and resources it would take to potentially implement a ward system.