It has been brought to my attention - by the Mayor himself no less - that my description of his position on electoral reform was inaccurate.

I opened my blog with this statement:  

Newmarket Mayor, John Taylor, is in favour of mandatory voting, supports electoral reform and – with all its challenges and some real dangers – is on the side of AI. And he would like to see education become the responsibility of regional councils (in two-tier municipal areas like York Region) or single tier municipalities elsewhere. And education should develop curiosity and creativity, fostering debate, discussion and democracy. 

At no point in the evening did Taylor express support for electoral reform. He said he was in favour of compulsory voting which was, I think, the first time I’d heard this. I made the mistake of conflating this with his previously stated views on electoral reform. This was just sloppiness on my part.

I’ve known for years that Taylor is an “unabashed fan of ranked ballots”. He said that way back in 2019. I don’t know if that is still his position. 

Compulsory voting is different from embracing a new electoral system, replacing First Past the Post.

This is what Mayor Taylor told his colleagues on 14 May 2019 at a Special meeting of the Town’s Committee of the Whole:

“I'm an unabashed fan of ranked ballots. I think in this context, it's a little tricky. The financial consideration, the fact that we're doing online voting, and we're just getting going on that, and the fact that we only have London (Ontario) to look to, and, you know, you want to manage your risks and manage everything else, but I think there's a great deal to be said for it. 

I think this last election here in Newmarket was relatively, if not very polite, and having witnessed many over many, many years that aren't necessarily that way. I believe that there's evidence internationally that ranked ballots can do a lot to improve the tone and tenor of elections, and create a different type of conversation, a more respectful debate, focussed on issues and ideas, over personalities, because of the fear that you could lose people's second place vote, if you start slandering, frankly, their candidate. 

… in most communities, in every election, there's at least one race that might be changed, and the other way of putting that is that, in every, in many elections, someone is elected that the majority of residents would not have voted for.

And a ranked ballot takes that out. That means that the person that most want gets elected. And you don't have this vote splitting with one person with 30% or 35% of the vote, getting elected, even though the majority of people wouldn't have voted for them if there was a system in place where they could express that. 

So I think there's clear democratic advantages. I think there's advantages to the respectfulness, and we need to think deeply about the voter disenfranchisement due to the tone of elections North America wide..."

As I say, I don't know if this is still Taylor's position.

If his views have changed I shall let you know.

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Update on 28 September 2026: The Mayor tells me earlier today: 

"I think electoral reform deserves our attention given the well documented shortcomings of our first past the post system. I like ranked ballots especially for municipal, possibly for provincial and federal too. I would have to spend a lot of time studying options and examples to be sure about what reform may or may not work at the provincial and federal level but our current system creates enough democratic shortcomings that it warrants a serious look at all options. I hope Canada takes a deep dive on this issue and creates a meaningful dialogue on the pros and cons of the various options. This work is long overdue." 

I am glad that's sorted out.