Rules of voting in a municipal government

[Guest Cheryl Charette]

I would like to know if Roberts Rules of Order is routinely used to govern the actions of Municipal Council in Canada. Specifically when voting on a motion, traditionally the councillors put up their hand to vote yea or nay. However in this modern age of technology the Council in the city I live have decided to vote via tablet. Not a bad thing, however, there will not be a  public record as to how each councillor voted. Apparently the law in Ontario does not require a recorded vote that is accessible to the public. What is the tradition involved in the generally accepted Rules of Order.

[Atul Kapur]

Hi Cheryl,

Robert's Rules of Order (RONR) defers to legislation and special rules of order adopted by the organization. Here in Canada, most municipalities are governed by the applicable provincial law (eg: Ontario's Municipal Act) and then usually adopt their own special rules (in Ontario, this is called the Procedural By-law). Most municipalities specify a parliamentary authority in their procedural by-law but only in situations when the law and procedural by-law are silent. Many use RONR, but there are several that use others.

RONR, itself, does not require a recorded vote unless the assembly itself orders one. I know of some municipal and similar councils in Canada that require a recorded vote for all final decisions, but it is not widespread.

You mentioned "tradition." RONR uses the word "custom" and the rules of order, special rules and the rules in RONR, supersede custom.