Are Vaughan’s 5 wards' boundaries ‘equitable, effective’?

Deadline for your input is Jan. 22

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 11, 2020
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Vaughan is “encouraging” residents to pitch in their input to “assess” whether Vaughan’s five wards continue providing “effective, equitable and democratic representation.”

Through this upcoming ward boundary review, Vaughan wants to see if these wards represent the city’s increasing population, future trends, physical and natural boundaries, and consideration of communities of interest.

“Over the last decade, Vaughan’s population has grown by more than 28 per cent,” the city said on its website. “However, the growth has not been uniform across the community and has resulted in population disparity among the five wards.”

This review is limited to consideration of the five ward boundaries, not the Mayor or Regional Councillors. In the 2022 municipal election, Vaughan is going to elect a fourth Regional Councillor in the 2022 municipal after a decision made by York Regional Council.

Vaughan had experienced minor boundary changes, which were approved before the 2000 and 2006 municipal elections, but the city’s current five wards have been in place without significant change since 2009. In 2016, an independent boundary review brought an alternative configuration to Council, but it was not adopted.

The Canadian Urban Institute, Beate Bowron Etcetera, The Davidson Group and Hemson Consulting at the time gave three options of either maintaining current number of wards, keeping current average ward population or have four wards.

To participate in this current assessment, check vaughan.ca/WardBoundary. The deadline is until Friday, Jan. 22, 2021 to help define priorities for the City as the review begins.