Before anyone tries to accuse me of providing any of the candidates with an edge, let me state that I am not endorsing any of the candidates for mayor. With the exception of Sarah Thomson, I know each of them personally, and over the years, I have spent social and business-interview time with all of them.

I think Rossi’s idea of asking the province for the power to recall any politician who votes against the wishes of their constituents is exactly what is required at City Hall. In fact, I’ve come around to the notion that every political jurisdiction (including the province of Ontario) would be well by the legislative tool that holds politicians accountable for their actions and decisions throughout their term in office, not just at election time.

Of course it could be abused and used frivolously. In a perfect world it could be structured to minimize the attempts. However, as a pure concept, it makes a ton of sense.

Recall procedures essentially give anyone the ability to un-elect their representative at any time by seeking a large number of people in their own ward, riding or region (say 40 per cent or more), who feel strongly that their representative is off-base. A petition signed by the designated number of people would get the process rolling. It’s what the residents of B.C. used to uprise against the imposition of the HST. Residents of Ontario are just as angry at the McGuinty government for imposing the hated and life altering tax as well, but they will have to wait until the next election to un-leash their full wrath. It could have been used against those at City Hall, who adopted the transfer taxes; or any other issue that people really care about but can only watch hopelessly from a distance.

What it does is help shift some of the balance of power back to the people who elected the politician. It lets people be part of the process and it should not be feared by any politician who is doing a good, thoughtful, responsible, representative job.

The downside is that it could paralyze some governments because some politicians could become too paranoid to perform out of fear of recall. But on balance, I think it is a great idea and one that we should all start debating!

What do you think? What’s the downside?