THUNDER BAY — Deputants all agreed on one thing at the final public engagement session for the city's Council Composition Review Committee. They do not like the proposal for a hybrid 4-ward system.
The review committee heard from four people who all wanted the review committee to change their proposed recommendation to council.
Three of the deputants argued for variations of an all ward system, which is not one of the options the committee was considering.
The fourth, Shane Judge, asked the committee to consider only recommending an at-large system. He said the to do away with the 4-ward hybrid model "is all wrong.”
“I am disenfranchised by a system where I am unable to vote for everyone who has the power to raise my taxes,” said Judge.
He argued that ward councillors do not make decisions that best serve the city as a whole, but only for their ward constituents.
“Ward councillors may indeed be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, but it's not in their political calculus to do so,” said Judge.
“The evidence suggests that even though the vast preponderance of the issues dealt with by our city council are citywide in nature. Ward councillors do not feel as compelling a pressure to please the majority of voters in the city.
“It's because it's not necessary for their political survival. Collaterally, because of the cumbersome size of our council, ward counsellors get to politically hide in the weeds, invisible from media coverage because of the sheer numbers. They are not exposed to the level of media scrutiny they should be for their votes on citywide issues.
“And since the current hybrid model and the one proposed by administration has a majority of ward councillors. The financial and social health of the entire city is placed on a lower level of concern because it's politics right now."
Judge did propose a compromise. He suggested that the review committee keep their four-ward boundary plan but have only one elected ward councillor for each ward with the rest of the councillors, a majority, elected at-large.
Jason Veltri argued that equity and fairness are better served by an all-ward system.
“It ensures that neighbourhoods and people in this community have a dedicated voice at the table. Your city issues are still being addressed. The ward councillors are usually the first line of defence when an issue comes up. An at-large councillor is the last line of defence,” said Veltri.
Veltri asked the review committee to consider adding three wards to meet the committee's target number of 10 councillors.
Cory Bagdon also suggested the review committee add an all-ward system to their recommendation. He proposed a boundary redistribution of nine smaller wards with nearly equal populations.
The names of each of the existing wards would stay the same except McKellar which was marked as Ward A in his presentation. Red River would be cut in half. The other half was labelled Ward B.
Bagdon told Newswatch that if his concept was recommended, “a powerful step would be to have the Indigenous communities come up with the names for those wards.”
According to phase-one of the review committee’s public engagement, Indigenous representatives felt they would be better represented with an at-large system.
Bagdon said, “two wards named after these Indigenous communities will inspire that pride in our community, pride in our neighbourhood and it will encourage candidates to run for election.
“And that's how we're going to end up with Indigenous representation of council."
Vern Seymour suggested the review committee remove the hybrid aspect from the 4-ward model.
Seymour said he would like the review committee to keep the four-ward model but reduce the size of council to eight, plus the mayor, and do away with the hybrid aspect of the model.
He reasons that the public needs to start moving “past the Port Arthur and Fort William rivalry” and start thinking about the city as a whole.
“I suggest no more than eight. Lessing the required review by the citizens in total, possibly reducing the name recognition problem and bringing more citizens into total involvement.” said Seymour.
When asked if the deputations have influenced the review committee'[s recommendation, Vice-Chair Cody Fraser said the two options are still on the table.
“At the end of the day, we're tasked with bringing forward the best recommendation possible. It's not necessarily one that we think will be politically viable. But it's our goal and it's our mandate to do what we think as a community is in the best interest of the community,” said Fraser.
“Whether that's gonna be a recommendation of what we've already brought to the table or something new, it remains to be seen.
He noted the feedback from the public survey and deputations of the second phase consultation will be presented to the committee on Dec. 3.
