Whitchurch-Stouffville decides to keep its name --sort of

Council votes to officially keep Whitchurch-Stouffville, but use just Stouffville in branding

Yorkregion.com
December 5, 2019
Simon Martin

Whitchurch-Stouffville still exists, but you might not see much of the word 'Whitchurch' in the future.

After much debate about changing the name of the town, a very Canadian compromise was reached at the Dec. 3 Whitchurch-Stouffville council meeting.

Going forward, the town will brand itself as the Town of Stouffville in all forward-facing places, but will legally keep its official name as the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville.

It was the compromise put forward by Mayor Iain Lovatt after several councillors said a referendum was the only fair way to decide the issue.

There was an overwhelming consensus that a rebranding exercise was necessary earlier this, Lovatt said, and the first step in the rebranding exercise was figuring what to do with the town name.

"Being a marketing guy of almost 25 years, you want to have a very clear understanding of what it is that you’re branding," Lovatt said.

A referendum would not be ideal in this case because it would put the town’s rebranding on hold for three years, until after the next municipal election, Lovatt said.

"We just needed clarity for staff because I think that deferring it is actually going to set us back," he said.

Town staff undertook a lengthy public survey on the topic that received 3,247 usable responses. The numbers were largely in favour of the name change.

According to the staff report, 74.5 per cent of respondents preferred changing the name, while 21.7 per cent favoured keeping it as Whitchurch-Stouffville.

Council previously approved spending $50,000 for a branding initiative earlier this year, which would have been incurred regardless of whether or not the name changed, the report said.

Some concerned residents voiced their displeasure with the possible name change.

"I was disappointed there wasn’t a third option: the Town of Whitchurch," Fred Robbins said. "I think a lot of people need to be educated more on the history we have in our community as Whitchurch."

"I’m wondering why was this proposed," resident Diane Ward said. "We have a name that many are very proud of. Why are we changing it?"

Although the residents survey overwhelming supported the name change, only Stouffville councillors Rick Upton and Richard Bartley voiced their full-throated support.

"I've lived in this town for 58 years," Bartley said. "I just find the name cumbersome."

In the long run, changing the name of the town to Stouffville is the right decision, Upton said.

"The character of the town won’t change," he said.

The rest of council was much more tepid at the prospect of change.

Ward 1 Coun. Ken Ferdinands was worried there would be a loss of identity in the hamlets of the town if the name was changed.

"The naming of the municipality may not sit well with a lot of people," he said.

Ward 3 Coun. Hugo Kroon said he didn’t think a name change would make a big difference.

"There’s an immense amount of history behind the name Whitchurch and I believe that denying the use of that name does a disservice to history," he said.

Kroon also said he believes there is much greater financial cost to this than the $24,500 suggested in the staff report.

Others lamented about losing what Whitchurch brought.

"If we were to honour anybody, Whitchurch actually brought us all the money, all the land, and all we have is this one little strip on Main Street, Stouffville, and we’re willing to change the whole community," Ward 6 Coun. Sue Sherban said. "Whitchurch is the one that brings us all the beauty to this community of Stouffville."

Sherban said if the town is going to change its name, it needs to be a referendum questions on the ballot next election.

Many other councillors including Kroon, Ferdinands and Ward 2 Coun. Maurice Smith. agreed with sentiment.

"This kind of decision that we can be making with the seven of us, which is going to impact the lives of thousands upon thousands of people; you know, I’m not particularly in favour of referendums, but this issue I believe deserves a referendum," Kroon said.