East Gwillimbury electoral review recommends town move to ward system

YorkRegion.com
Dec. 20, 2016
Simon Martin

After months of consultations with residents, the final report for the East Gwillimbury electoral review is in and it recommends the town add two councillors and move from an at-large voting system to a ward system.

Consultants Andrew Sancton and Tim Cobban delivered details of their final report to council Dec. 20.  “It is clear from our consultations that a minority of citizens and stakeholders favour maintaining the status quo,” the report stated.

The consultants recommended council move to a ward system that would feature three wards; Holland Landing, Queensville-Sharon and Mount Albert-rural in the 2018 election with two councillors each. In the following election in 2022, there would be five wards as the Holland Landing and Queensville-Sharon wards would be split and the Mount Albert rural ward would remain intact. There was difficulty in drawing accurate ward boundaries that reflected population because East Gwillimbury is expecting such a population boom in the coming years, Cobban said.

Nobody on council was ready to champion the recommendation. The town’s longest serving councillor, Marlene Johnston, said she didn’t see a need for the change. She feared moving toward a ward system would narrow the scope of a councillor’s work to just their ward. “We have always been one town. All for one and one for all,” she said. “Many things will need to be discussed.”

Councillor Joe Persechini echoed those sentiments while Coun. James Young said he doesn’t see the urgency to make the change right now.

Council agreed to discuss the electoral review in more depth at a meeting early next year.

The position they are being put in is a difficult one, Coun. Tara Roy-DiClemente said. “It’s deeply ironic that he very people with a vested interest in the electoral system are the very ones who make this decision,” she said.

The report found that 60 per cent of the 148 survey respondents preferred wards as a way to elect councillors. The consultants did note that about half the respondents identified themselves as residents of Mount Albert and that Mount Albert respondents disproportionately favoured a ward system. Mount Albert currently does not have a resident on council.

Sancton told council the majority of the new residents coming to East Gwillimbury will be unfamiliar with how an at-large system functions where residents are expected to learn about every candidate. “We just don’t think that is realistic expectation especially of newcomers to the community,” he said.

In the case that York regional council might allocate a second regional representative to East Gwillimbury, they recommended the regional councillor position be elected at large. They also suggested the regional representative would be the logical candidate to be deputy mayor as they were elected at-large.

The previously reported poor attendance at the public consultations was also confirmed as a total of 25 citizens attended four public meetings, including no residents at the meeting in Harvest Hills.

To read the final report visit eastgwillimbury.ca.