Residents losing vote on regional chair

Roger Varley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A bill giving the provincial government the power to appoint regional chairs was introduced in the legislature last week, including granting “strong chair” powers to those appointed to help them deliver on government priorities.

Durham Region is included in those plans, meaning the voters in Durham will not be able to cast a vote for the regional chair position in the upcoming municipal elections. (The same proposed legislation would also reduce the size of Simcoe County council and Niagara Regional council.)

Reaction to the announcement is mixed. Finance Minister and Pickering-Uxbridge MPP Peter Bethlenfalvy said the move is a "fundamental policy decision" to help speed up decision-making at the regional level. He said he doesn't know what criteria will be used to select the new regional chairs, but added it is his understanding that current chairs could be considered for appointment.

The current Chair of Durham Region, John Henry, issued a statement following the government's announcement saying he is disappointed by the decision.

The Region of Durham’ current chair, John Henry, says he is ‘disappointed’ by the decision of the province to no longer allow residents to vote for the position. Cosmos file photo

“Today, the Province made a fundamental change to how Regions are governed in Ontario," Henry said in the statement. "Moving forward, Regional Chairs will be appointed by the Province, not elected by the residents of Durham Region as they voted for in the 2010 referendum.”

"I am disappointed by this decision," he continued. "I believe the changes being implemented by the province are a disservice to our vibrant communities."

He said Durham residents "deserve a direct voice in choosing their leadership."

However, Mayor Dave Barton was less distressed, noting he had been expecting the move to an appointed chair for the last three years.

"The reality is most people don’t know what the regional chair does," Barton said, claiming that only about 20 per cent of voters cast a vote for the regional chair in the last election.

"That raises real questions about whether the current model is working as intended," he added.

When asked if the move by the provincial government could lead to party politics in municipal government, Barton opined that "it could remove some of the politics from regional government and keep things more focused on delivering for residents."

"Right now, a lot of time is spent taking shots at other levels of government," he said. "This change may help bring the focus back to getting things done."

To the question of whether he was interested in becoming regional chair, Barton replied: "I have absolutely zero interest in being regional chair. My heart is in Uxbridge. I care deeply about this community. I am laser focused on getting things done here."

He added that he will be running for mayor again in October.

Likewise, regional councillor Bruce Garrod was not worried by the province’s move.

"I don't think an appointment is a disaster," he said, noting that Durham's chair was appointed in the past. (Roger Anderson was appointed chair in 1997 and then became the first elected chair in 2014.)

Garrod praised current Chair Henry, saying he was outspoken about the federal and provincial governments not providing enough funding for programs they downloaded onto the regions.

"I would say he's done a good job," Garrod said.

The proposed bill by the province will also introduce weighted voting, a system where each member of a council may be assigned a different number of votes. The province says the number can be determined by “many factors,” including population or the number of electors in the ward represented. Since different individual members of council may have a different number of votes, in a weighted vote, a simple “majority of members” may be different from the “majority of weighted votes.

The province said last week it is announcing these changes in advance of the May 1, 20206 opening of nominations to give municipalities and candidates time to prepare for the October municipal election.