By Katie Strachan
The Oshawa Express

Would you like to see the method of selecting the region’s chairperson changed from appointment by the members of regional council to a general vote by you?
That’s what regional council wants to know.
Councillors Bonnie Littley and Colleen Jordan brought forth a notice of motion that would see that question plastered on election ballots later this year and many councillors were in favour of it.
“A lot of residents want to have the opportunity to debate the issue. This question has been put through the legal review…so it’s completely legal and it’s a completely relevant question,” says Councillor Littley.
“I think it will make for an interesting election. I think people want to have their say.”
In the 2006 municipal election the City of Oshawa along with the Town of Ajax and the City of Pickering had a similar question on its ballots.
It total, more than 87 per cent of residents in those three municipalities were for the general vote of the regional chair.
Ajax Mayor Steve Parish says he supports the motion.
“They (residents) have the right to have a say when it comes to the highest elected positions of office,” he says.
“I think people need to have the right to choose and it (the question) needs to be asked to everyone at the same time.”

Mayor Parish says putting the question on the ballot does not necessarily mean it will change the method of selecting the chair, but that it’s simply to gather input.
“Elections are about having constituents feedback on which is the right way to go,” says Mayor Parish, adding the current system came into effect in 1973.
“I think the time has come to seriously consider a change.”
Councillor Brian Nicholson says leaving the job to the 28 members of regional council is unfair.
“No matter where you live, you will not be consulted on who should be the next chair of the region. There is something wrong with that process,” says Councillor Nicholson.
Councillor Don Mitchell says he supports the motion but made an amendment to it. He asked for a staff report by June 2010 that will provide an analysis of issues relating to the direct election of the regional chair.
Issues like who will pay for campaigning and the council term for the regional chair are important things to know, he says.
But Councillor Robert Lutczyk says it’s inappropriate to pull staff into a political dispute.
“To have our staff get into the political debate of financial costs for the campaigning…these are political debates. It comes down to are we putting the question on the ballot or not,” he says.
Councillor Mary Novak says she feels it’s important people know what the question means, if they’re going to put it on the ballot.

“I think if your going to ask people whether they would like a direct vote, you have to make sure they understand the process,” she says, adding she supports Councillor Mitchell’s amendment.
Clarington Mayor Jim Abernethy agrees, he says.
“We have a responsibility to educate the public on the question,” the mayor explains.
Oshawa Mayor John Gray says his concern lies in the fact that the residents of the city have already been asked their opinion.
“We already asked our residents the question and we got the answer. I think it’s almost an insult to ask them again,” he says.

But Regional Solicitor Brian Roy says it would be the region asking the question this time and that it would be in a different format.

Councillor Charlie Trimm suggested that all municipalities, which have issues they would like answered submit their concerns to staff by March 31 for the June report.
The amendment passed with Councillor Trimm’s deadline added.
Councillors Lutczyk, John Neal and Nicholson voted against the amendment.
Councillor John Grant asked that the question, if it were passed by council, be changed to read “…to change the method of selecting its chair from appointment by the members of regional council…” to “…to change the method of selecting its chair from election by the members of regional council…”
Councillor Grant says he thinks the term appointment could unfairly sway residents.
But Regional Chair Roger Anderson ruled his motion out of order as the Municipal Act clearly states the chair is appointed not elected.
“It’s not necessarily the greatest thing to do,” says Chair Anderson of fighting the Municipal Act.
So in turn, Councillor Grant asked that the region hold more than the one required public information session to ensure voters are aware of what they are voting on.
But not all councillors were in agreement with that.
“We are going to put staff (who would host the meeting) in a difficult situation. We’re putting them right in the middle of the political arena,” says Mayor Gray.
Councillor John Henry suggested the region include the question on the back of its next community newsletter.
Ultimately, Councillor Grant’s request for more public information sessions was lost. The region will hold just one.
After the final vote, regional councillors gave the okay to take the necessary steps to have the question included on the ballot in October. Council will have to pass a bylaw asking all eight-area municipalities to include the question.
The question will also have to gain approval from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing before it will make it on to ballots later this year, says Chair Anderson.