Council will also ask other smaller Durham municipalities to follow suit
Jan 26, 2010 - 02:07 PM
By Jennifer Stone
CLARINGTON -- Voters will be asked how the Region's top job should be filled via a referendum question on next October's municipal election ballot.
Clarington council voted Monday night to add the question on how the Regional Chairman should be selected -- by appointment by council, as is currently the case, or by direct election, as has been called for by many Durham residents for the last several years.
Current Regional Chairman Roger Anderson has held the job since 1997. Fresh from defeat in the Ajax mayor's race, his successful bid for the chairman's position saw him narrowly defeat then-Pickering mayor Wayne Arthurs.
Only once since then, in 2000 when Oshawa Mayor John Gray made a run at the job, has Mr. Anderson been challenged for the position.
Adding the matter to the 2010 ballot is a marked change for Clarington, which had chosen not to do so when the issue last arose, prior to the 2006 election.
"Folks might want an explanation, given my stance from a couple of years back, and I guess I'd just suggest I got me an education," Councillor Adrian Foster said.
In 2006, ballots in Oshawa, Ajax and Pickering asked voters for their opinion on whether the Regional chairman should be elected or appointed, with the vast majority calling for a change to direct election.
But even before that, it was an issue, as evidenced in 2004. Then, councils across Durham weighed in on the issue, voting by a narrow margin to keep the status quo.
Though Mayor Jim Abernethy voted in favour of asking electors what they think, he said he, too, had something of an education on the matter, and now, he understands the argument for appointment.
"Before I became mayor, I was dead against the appointed chair," he said. "But I had my eyes opened during a debate during a regional council meeting."
Appointing ensures the more populous municipalities don't have a better chance of getting one of their residents into the job, Mayor Abernethy pointed out. Not only that, but appointment mirrors how federal and provincial leaders get their jobs.
The mayor said Clarington might have a responsibility to "educate the public" on the issue before allowing residents to vote on it, but that idea didn't fly.
"So, we want to ask the question but we don't want to educate people?" he said.
There are some who believe it's a personality issue, not a democracy matter, causing the call for election of the position, the mayor suggested.
"I warn you at the end of the day that if it's an individual you're trying to change, don't change the system," Mayor Abernethy said. "I know a lot of people are not in favour of the current chairman, but to change the system to change the chair(man)" doesn't make sense.
Leading the charge to alter how the position is granted is Clarington ex-mayor John Mutton, who has stated his intent to challenge for the job this year. Having someone in favour of election is the sole way to facilitate change, he suggested.
"We must have a regional chairman who will not stand in the way of election at large . . . a chairman for change, if you will," Mr. Mutton said.
-- with files by Jillian Follert
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