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Council approves five-ward system

Pending bylaw approval, Oshawa's new five-ward system to be in place for 2018 election

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

It looks like Oshawa voters will once again be electing their councillors in a ward system come the 2018 election.

Following a special meeting on June 15, Oshawa city council approved a new five ward system, culminating a process that dates back to the 2014 election when a majority of voters who turned out to the polls desired a switch back to wards from the city’s at-large model.

The new five-ward system sees wards for both the northern and southern portions of the city, with the central core divided into three other sections. The new system was moved by Councillor Dan Carter and seconded by Councillor John Aker, who noted his satisfaction with consultants Watson and Associates and Robert Williams who completed the review.

“I think it will survive a long time,” Aker said of the new system. “This is a bold opportunity, for once, to change things in a positive way.”

Under the new system, the wards with the largest populations are Wards 3 and 4 in the central part of the city, followed by Ward 5, Oshawa’s south end, which will now include everything south of Gibb Street and Olive Street.

The five ward model will have one city councillor and one regional councillor running in each ward, while the mayor runs at-large. The system fit with the Region of Durham’s decision to reduce Oshawa’s regional representatives from seven to five following a regional composition review in 2016.

In their final report, consultants noted that this option’s strengths were in the fact that it kept the downtown core in a single ward, and the UOIT and Durham College campus in a single ward, and that the boundaries are relatively simple by running along major roadways.

The consultants also note that the system is successful in accomplishing three of the five guiding principles for the ward review, including, effective representation, accounting for population trends and working with natural boundaries. The new system is also “largely successful” in the remaining two principles of maintaining communities of interest and representation by population.

During the special meeting to discuss the matter, council were left with two options, which only had minor variations to the certain wards. However, councillors were particularly concerned with the northern border of Ward 5 in the south end of the city, which, under the second option, would have run along the 401 to Ritson Road, then up Ritson to Bond Street and east to the city limit instead of running straight across Gibb and Olive Streets.

Councillor Gale Bates believes the latter option could help to lift the stigma that hangs over the south end of the city.

“It does still happen, like it or not,” she said.

The same was said by Councillor Nester Pidwerbecki, who believed expanding the south end ward would help raise that area from beneath the existing stigma.

“You’re giving that stigma a real kick in the pants,” he said of his preferred option.

Bates and Pidwerbecki were joined by Councillor Rick Kerr in voting against the option, however they were out-voted by the remainder of council.

For Councillor John Shields, while the ward system will have each councillor running in a particular area, he says it’s important to remember that council still needs to work as one.

“We’ve been talking about these boundaries as if they’re walls,” he said. “Regardless of what ward you’re in, whoever is here is going to have to work together.”

While councillors have come to agreement on a new system, the official bylaw that will put the ward system in place still needs to be approved by council during their meeting on June 26.

When the new bylaw is approved by council, residents will have a 45-day period in which to appeal the system to the Ontario Municipal Board if they believe it to be unfair, or provide inadequate representation.

 

 

 

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