York Region residents won't get to vote for who leads regional council

York Region residents will not get to vote for who leads regional council in the next municipal election.

Regional council, on a vote of 14 to 6, rejected a motion tabled last February that would have seen the regional chair, a position currently occupied by former Whitchurch-Stouffville mayor Wayne Emmerson, directly elected by residents.

Instead, the position will continue to be filled through a vote around the regional council table.

Newmarket Mayor John Taylor and Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas voted in favour of change, alongside regional councillors Don Hamilton (Markham), Jim Jones (Markham), Joe Li (Markham), and Joe DiPaola (Richmond Hill).

The question is now what?

York Region has a long history of considering how the chair should be elected.

The most recent series of proposed changes stemmed from a Private Member’s Bill brought forward at Queen’s Park in 2016 from Newmarket-Aurora’s then-MPP Chris Ballard, which, following its passage, would have mandated a direct election for York Region.

This directive, however, was struck down by the incumbent provincial government in 2018, leaving regional council to decide its own path forward.

“Regional council can, after holding at least one public meeting, pass a bylaw to change the manner of electing the regional chair to a region-wide election,” said Bruce Macgregor, CAO of the Regional Municipality of York, in a memo to members when they last looked at this matter in February. “Before the bylaw comes into effect it must receive a ‘triple majority’, which occurs when: the bylaw receives the support of the majority of votes on regional council; a majority of the councils of all local municipalities pass resolutions consenting to the bylaw; and the total number of electors in the local municipalities that have passed resolutions consenting to the bylaw form a majority of all the electors in York Region.”

Had any change been in the air at the region, a decision would have needed to be confirmed by Dec. 21, 2021 for it to be part of the 2022 municipal election.

Since its establishment in 1970, the regional chair was been appointed in different ways. In the beginning, the province of Ontario appointed the chair for two two-year terms. This method changed at the inaugural meeting of regional council where the chair was elected by members around the table. 

“Four of the six chairs of York Region were members of a lower-tier council at the time of their appointment,” noted Mr. Macgregor. “The other two chairs had recently completed terms on the council of a lower-tier municipality.”

“Council had the authority to determine whether or not the appointed chair must also hold office on a local municipal council. Through inherited provisions from the long ago repealed Regional Municipality of York Act, it has been the practice in York Region for the appointed chair to resign their seat at the local level. However, council can enact a requirement for the chair to retain their local office. This change can be implemented without a ‘triple majority.’”

Brock Weir, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Auroran