THUNDER BAY -- Your first chance to weigh in on the future of Thunder Bay city council starts today.
The council composition committee has now launched the Public Engagement Survey, which is available through the Get Involved Thunder Bay page until February 4th.
The committee has six members: Heather McLeod along with Chair Rebecca Johnson, Vice-Chair Cody Fraser as well as Riley Burton, Wayne Bahlieda, and Carlos Santander-Maturana.
Johnson said hard copies of the survey will also be available beginning today.
“We are also going to have various locations in the city, like the libraries and maybe some other locations in the community, that you will be able to pick up a hard copy of the survey,” Johnson noted.
“But it's not just going to be the survey results that we're going on because the conversations we have around this subject are important. The more we can spark those conversations and broaden who we have them with, the better the information will bring to our decisions.”
The committee is also tasked with looking at the composition of the ward system, and potential changes to ward boundaries.
When the municipality of Thunder Bay was created in 1970, it began with a mayor and 12 councillors elected evenly across four wards.
That expanded to seven wards in 1976, before 1985 when the city adopted its current hybrid system that elects a mayor, seven ward councillors, and five at-large councillors.
A push for a plebiscite back in October 2021 by former At-Large Councillor Peng You that would have asked citizens if they support cutting council from 13 to 9 seats and ditching the ward system never proceeded.
A final report from the committee on the composition of council is slated for completion in advance of the 2026 Municipal Election.
The committee will next meet on Tuesday, February 6th.
