On Council agenda there is York Region resolution to consider and to indicate support, or no support for it. The resolution is increase by 1 person the York Region Council by increasing the number of persons representing Vaughan from 4 to 5. The report provides good background on the historical and current composition of YR Council and comparisons with other regional councils. As indicated the review of the composition is required by legislation and it must be completed by December. From looking at the stats I do not seen an argument for increasing representation from Vaughan. Presumably the only argument to support such is that per 2018 population a Vaughan representative has ~82.00 persons to represent and Markham has ~69,000. A difference of 13,000 is insignificant when the single regional representatives for King (i.e. our Mayor) represents about ~27,000 and the single representative for Aurora (i.e. the Mayor) represents 62,000.
Debbie,
I strongly agree with you that there is no need for Vaughan to increase its Regional representation on York Region Council from 4 to 5 Councillors. Relative population growth is the driving argument for this: this is only one criterion that should be debated.
Vaughan already holds a disproportionately high degree of influence on YRC (as does Markham). The fact is, York Region’s “rural municipalities”, for which King is one, are represented solely by their respective Mayors. The effect of having 4 Regional Councillors from one “lower tier” municipality in this environment are concerning:
1) Four Councillors have four times the resources to work within, and influence, Council committees and motions. Our Mayor Pellegrini, for instance, despite his proven dedication and energy level, can’t possibly divide his attention enough to give King the voice at Regional Council we require, particularly in light of King’s (and the other 4 rural municipalities) unique needs and goals. (This is not to mention, Mayor Pellegrini’s job as Mayor of King Township as well, a demanding role on its own.)
2) It’s no secret that Vaughan, and special interest groups that reside within it, want to continue its long growth cycle by relaxing environmental constraints and bylaws that inhibit sustainable, thoughtful growth. There is, in my opinion, significant money and influence behind these efforts. Expanding Vaughan’s representation on Regional Council would give it one more vote, and another body with which to press this agenda.
3) King, and the other 4 rural municipalities (the “Northern 5” as they are affectionately called) need MORE representation at this critical government level. They are a key piece of sustainable development, including key economic products (agriculture most notably) that will help see us out of the messes we have created as a society by obvious uncontrolled growth and energy consumption for more than a century.
My solution? Create one (or even two) Regional Councillor positions that specifically represent our smaller, more rural municipalities. Unfortunately, there is no mechanism that would permit this kind of “Super Councillor” who would be voted for across lower tier municipal boundaries.
In any regard, providing Vaughan an additional Regional Councillor position would only exacerbate an already skewed power and policy imbalance that must be addressed at this key level of local government.
I encourage Councillors in all of York’s local Municipalities to carefully consider the ramifications of this proposal.
Sincerely,
Greg Locke
Schomberg
very astute comments Greg. I do know that at least once there has been proposals to change composition to YR Council which included more representation from the N6 but the regional council of the day has not approved such which is the first step.