An extra seat for Vaughan would dilute Aurora’s voice at Region: Council

December 11, 2013 · 0 Comments

By Brock Weir

If Aurora can’t have a second seat on Regional Council, than the City of Vaughan shouldn’t get an extra voice at the table either, according to Council.

Councillors are set to approve a motion this week voting down a bid by Vaughan to have an additional seat at Regional Council, after multiple bids to add a Regional Councillor for the Town of Aurora were voted down by larger York Region municipalities.

That is the recommendation coming to Council following last Tuesday’s General Committee meeting. Going into last week’s session, the recommendation to Council was to provide direction on Vaughan’s bid. In order for their bid to be successful, it needs to get a “triple majority” in approval at the Regional table, the approval of a majority of York Region’s nine municipal councils, and a majority of eligible voters. Aurora Council decided to move an option refusing the change.

“I don’t think it is to our advantage, seeing as how the Region has not cooperated with our requests as a whole,” said Councillor John Abel. “I think it is important that this Council makes it clear we have a problem with their reasoning [as] we don’t have the population [to warrant a second seat] but we do play a significant role in the Region.

“If they aren’t willing as a whole to listen, I am not willing to entertain them as a whole with their recommendation of adding one to Vaughan simply because of population. [My decision] isn’t based on a practical way of doing it. Mine is purely political. They refused, so I am refusing. That is my option.”

Councillor Paul Pirri said his support of blocking Vaughan’s bid was less to do with how Regional Council decided the fate of Aurora’s bid, but in diluting Aurora’s voice at the Regional table.

“There is a growing divide between the Northern Six and the Southern Three,” said Councillor Pirri on the nine municipalities. “The Southern Three keeps getting bigger and bigger, and my concern in allowing them to get bigger and bigger is Aurora has less and less of a voice proportionately at Regional Council. If we want the best deal for Aurora, it is to limit the size of the larger municipalities and stop them from getting bigger and bigger. Our voice will get squeezed out at some point.”

Doubting the option to block Vaughan’s bid was Councillor Chris Ballard. He said it was problematic voting ‘no’ just because Aurora’s bid was scuttled. It won’t make Councillors “bigger people”, he argued.

“We are all members of York Region and at the end of the day we have concerns about the power of the Southern Three versus the power of the Northern Six. But I think if we vote for Option Two, that reinforces the stereotype of it is us versus them. Perhaps it is unfortunate, but what we really need to be talking about are some of the issues Councillor Pirri raised about representation, not only based on population, but based on need. Saying no just reinforces there is a power struggle between North and South…and I don’t think it does [either side] any good.”

In response, however, Councillor Abel said he was not trying to create “division” or “polarity” in the Region, rather than having Aurora’s voices heard.

“It is our moment to make ourselves heard,” he concluded. “I see no [other reason presented for Vaughan’s extra seat] than population. I don’t know why it is so important that they have that extra seat. Georgina is getting an extra seat based on their population and they are not even half of us.

“There are certain circumstances why you would have that extra seat and not based solely on population. Having said that, I am all for what Aurora plays in the Region and how important it is to have a strong, unified voice at the provincial and other levels. I don’t wish to say that it is a get even. In my mind, it is not. It is an opportunity to voice our concerns on what is going on at the Region and this is one way we get to voice it.”