Durham Region council Representation Review

NRU
Jan. 27, 2016
Leah Wong

Durham Region is nearing the end of its council composition review and its council will soon decide how best to allocate seats to local municipalities.

The 15-member composition review committee, comprising regional chair Roger Anderson, regional councillors and representatives from local boards of trade, chambers of commerce and post-secondary institutions, will finalize its recommendations to council next month.

At its meeting Friday the committee endorsed its preferred option, which will maintain the size of council but redistribute seats to better reflect the local municipalities’ populations.

Under the preferred option council would comprise 28 seats—two seats each to Brock, Scugog and Uxbridge, four for Ajax, three for Clarington, six for Oshawa, four for Pickering and five for Whitby—plus the directly elected regional chair. Compared to the existing council composition this option reduces Oshawa’s seats by two and adds one each to Ajax and Whitby. Committee also endorsed double direct election, which has councillors sit on both local and regional councils.

“This is a big change for the City of Oshawa, which has been overrepresented for a while,” Anderson told committee. “Today the population is changing and assessment has changed drastically.”

When the region was formed Anderson said Oshawa had the largest population, highest assessment and the most jobs. It will continue to have the largest population, but other Durham municipalities have had increased assessment value and population growth.

In the six months since it was formed the committee considered the size of council, the weight representation by population should be given and whether councillors should be elected through a direct or double-direct method. To inform its decision the committee has studied the composition of other regional councils, commissioned a report from public affairs consultant Robert J. Williams and consulted with the public. Last week public information sessions were held in Oshawa, Ajax and Scugog.

At its meeting last week committee members also discussed how significant changes to the composition would reduce support from affected municipalities. For example, Clarington regional councillor Willie Woo said that given his town’s growing population and the fact that it comprises 25 per cent of Durham’s land mass, his council would not support a reduction in its seats.

Committee also heard from members of the Durham Youth Council about its preferred council composition— which mirrors the committee-endorsed option. Chair Kyle Fitzgerald highlighted the council’s preference for the double-direct election method as it is easier to understand and leads to more effective representation.

“In order to effectively represent local municipalities, regional councillors need to have an intimate knowledge of the issues facing their local municipalities,” Fitzgerald told committee. “The best and most effective way to do this is to also sit on those local councils.”

He said this also reduces confusion among voters, who might not be familiar with the different responsibilities of regional and local councils. It also allows for residents to better engage with councillors as they do not have to distinguish between responsibilities to know which councillor to approach.

The youth council discussed options to reduce the number of regional councillors. However, given the level of growth Durham is expected to experience Fitzgerald said it does not make sense to reduce council and then add to it in future reviews. Maintaining the size of council also allows the less-populated northern municipalities to each retain two seats on council.

“Youth council feels strongly that the northern municipalities, due to their contributions [to] the identity of Durham Region and the unique issues they face, do warrant having a disproportionate number of seats,” said Fitzgerald.

While the option was approved by the majority of committee members, there were some concerns about the effectiveness of the review process.

“We have so dramatically limited the options available to us for consideration, that in a way, it seems the outcome is pre-ordained,” said Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce president Gary Valcour. “There has been an awful amount of discussion—to the point it’s almost become a mantra—about rep by pop.”

The options presented to committee were developed with a few assumptions—that all mayors automatically sit on council, that the three northern municipalities retain two seats each and that composition be reviewed on a regular basis.

Ajax councillor Colleen Jordan told committee that she had hoped to see the size of council reduced as voters in Ajax, Pickering and Whitby all voted in favour of reducing the number of regional councillors in a 2014 referendum. However the referendum is non-binding as voter turnout was too low.

“We haven’t met [the] reduction and are in a difficult position when we allocate six [seats] to the north as we can’t reduce the size a lot or it will be way out of balance for the lakeshore communities,” said Jordan.

The committee’s report will be considered by regional council March 9. At that time council will consider the report and have the opportunity to make amendments before deciding whether or not to support the recommendations.