'Democracy out the window': Aurora resident starts GoFundMe to appeal ward system

Voters rejected ward system in 2014 referendum, Bruce Orrell points out

Yorkregion.com
August 5, 2020

Upset Aurora council threw “democracy out the window,” resident Bruce Orrell is working on mounting an appeal against the incoming ward system.

On July 14, council passed a bylaw that will see a six-ward system put in place for the 2022 municipal elections.

With an appeal deadline of Aug. 28, Orrell is asking residents to donate to a GoFundMe page to raise the $300 needed to try to overturn council’s decision.

Within days of posting his idea on the Living in Aurora Community FOCUS Facebook page, he had raised $230.

Orrell said he’s not against wards themselves necessarily. He’s on the fence but believes the present system where councillors are elected at large is working fine.

However, he’s frustrated council approved wards when voters rejected them.

In a referendum in 2014, 55 per cent of the 12,487 residents who voted on the system said they wanted to retain the at-large system.

“With the current council, they just decided they wanted to implement a ward system. There was no input from the public. When they did form a consulting group to go out and find the best solution, the only options were … ward systems, there was no option for no wards. And when people actually brought up that fact, they said it was not in their mandate,” Orrell said.

“They’re just operating on their own with no responsibility to the residents. The whole notion of a democratic system was just thrown out the window at that point. They’re just operating on their own. If the public is OK with a ward system, I have nothing against a ward-based system. It’s the manner it’s been pushed onto us.”

Mayor Tom Mrakas could not be reached for comment.

Aurora is the second largest municipality in Ontario, after Sarnia, to use the at-large system.

A consultant hired by the town, Beate Bowron Etcetera, looked at the possibility of implementing three, four, five or six wards before council approved six wards.