Elected York Region chairperson vote delayed until next year

yorkregion.com
Nov. 26, 2015
By Lisa Queen

York councillors have put off making a decision about electing the regional chairperson until the new  year, but have also opened the door to changing the structure of regional council.

At last Thursday’s council meeting, during which several residents urged councillors to scrap the current system of having only mayors and regional councillors select the regional chair in favour of allowing voters to choose what is arguably the region’s most powerful political position, councillors decided to put off the decision until February.

That will give them a chance to look at how well the system of electing a chair works in Durham, Halton and Waterloo regions.

Councillors will also look at other governance issues such as whether East Gwillimbury, Aurora, Whitchurch-Stouffville and King should be represented on regional council by more than just their mayors when all other municipalities have at least two members.

Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua argued his city should have more than four representatives.

Markham, which has a similar population, has five members.

The governance review could also look at other issues such as whether regional councillors should be directly elected to regional council.

Several residents pushed councillors to support a motion from Markham Councillor Joe Li and Whitchurch-Stouffville Mayor Justin Altmann advocating in favour of Newmarket-Aurora MPP Chris Ballard’s private member’s bill for an elected chair.

In the last couple of weeks, Aurora, Whitchurch-Stouffville and Markham councils have all supported electing the regional chair.

“For me, it starts with accountability,” Aurora Councillor Michael Thompson, who said he was speaking as a resident, told regional council Thursday.

If the chair was elected, candidates would have to present their platforms on issues such as development, affordable housing and transportation to voters, rather than lobbying support only among mayors and regional councillors, he said.

“Residents have a right to know what the most powerful and highly paid person in regional government stands for,” he said.

Aurora resident Benjamin Williamson, 16, argued the chair, who oversees a budget of more than $2 billion and represents the region on the provincial, national and international stages, should be elected.

“Canada is a democracy where the people’s voice matters,” he said. “This should be true for regional issues as regional issues are arguably the most important, as these decisions affect the people the most during their everyday lives.”

While Aurora resident Anthony Pullano praised regional chair Wayne Emmerson and council as honourable people, he said the region, with all its complexities, should not be using the same system of choosing a chair as it did when the region was created in 1971.

“Currently, the position of chair is decided by the political workings of this inner group, where general citizens are not privy to the decision process,” he said.

Simply time for change

“It is simply time for a change where the average Joe Citizen has a say in voting in the most powerful position in York Region,” he said.

King Mayor Steve Pellegrini asked Pullano if he finds it “somewhat, and I’ll choose the word carefully, because I was going to say hypocritical” that the province is looking to impose an elected chair on the region when voters don’t directly elect the premier.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right, Mayor Pellegrini,” Pullano said.

Meanwhile, Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti challenged claims that the chair is an exceptionally powerful position, saying residents don’t need to look any further than the elected mayors and regional councillors sitting around the table to find accountability to voters.

Bob Mok, president of the Downtown Markham Ratepayers Association, said the current system means the chair does not have a mandate from voters.

“It (the position) is indebted to the small circle of voters within the York Region council who put it there,” he said.

“It is imperative that change must come and without further delay.”

Markham resident Jim Kwan compared the current process to the “small circle” system in Hong Kong, opposition to which led to the Umbrella Movement pro-democracy demonstrations last year.

“I’m really disappointed to be here to discuss and push for democratic election of the regional chair position,” he said.

“Why? Because Canada is considered one of the best democratic countries in the western world in the 21st century.

“Yet, unfortunately, the top job of York Region chair is still chosen by an elected small circle of people. This is against the very essence of the democratic process in Canada”

Saying he has no concerns with the job performance of either Emmerson or his predecessor, Bill Fisch, Newmarket resident Darryl Wolk argued the region has an opportunity to come up with a made-in-York solution rather than waiting for an elected chair to be imposed by the provincial government.

“The chair is the face of York Region with responsibility for transportation, human services, economic development and policing,” he said, adding the job is much too important to be left to political lobbying behind closed doors.