Quality over quantity

The region’s council composition committee has had its final vote, and it doesn’t look good for Oshawa.

The city, the largest in the region, is set to lose two seats on regional council should councillors agree at their next meeting.

Oshawa’s loss will be Whitby and Ajax’s gain, with each picking up a seat apiece.

The writing has been on the wall for Oshawa since the committee was struck last year, and even before that, with councillors outside of the city voicing their concerns for years that Oshawa is over represented in council chambers.

While it is possible that councillors will not vote against the committee’s recommendations when they meet again on March 9, it is highly unlikely. What will likely happen is that the new changes will come into effect for the 2018 election.

So, where do we go from here?

Bob Chapman, the city’s representative on the committee, says that at the end of the day, Oshawa residents likely won’t see a big difference, but that it will come down to whom people vote for in 2018. And he’s absolutely right.

At this stage of the game, it’s pointless to argue about whether or not Oshawa deserves to keep its current eight seats on regional council – aside from a council vote, it’s done. No, instead residents will have to be ready in 2018 to vote for councillors they feel will best represent Oshawa’s values at the regional level.

Rather than looking at the drop from eight to six as a loss, residents should look at it as an opportunity – in 2018, Oshawa can vote in the best of the best to represent us at the regional level. After all, six strong voices is quite a bit better than eight quieter ones.

The only problem, however, is getting residents out to vote in the first place. With a 26.4-per-cent voter turnout in 2014, prospective regional councillors had better be giving us something that we want to vote for.