Quote:
Ferguson, who voted against the ward boundary review last spring, said he was content on how it is currently operating.
He said the fear during amalgamation and now is that the urban politicians will dominate the suburban areas.
“The fear is so strong now of being outvoted,” he said.
During amalgamation the Transition Board recommended there were 13 wards. But, said Ferguson, suburban officials lobbied the provincial government which established 15 wards.
“The present system is working well now,” he said.
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And how does the severe rep by pop imbalance grab you Lloyd? How is that working? (probably just fine, since it makes his voice more important)
I wonder if there's a Colombian quote that fits the ward boundary wrangle?
Quote:
Don Ross, a former Hamilton alderman, and member of the Transition Board, argued it’s time to change the ward boundaries. He suggested creating five wards based upon the federal ridings. Those ridings would be represented by three councillors each.
He believes there still remains an “us verse them” division on council based upon the 8 to 7 urban-rural ward split. Ross said to encourage a unified city, the ward boundaries should “overlap” each other. For instance, he said the Ancaster councillor should also have to represent a portion of west Hamilton.
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This is actually not a bad idea. Somewhat akin to creating "radial" wards that encompass central city, suburban, and rural areas, while maintaining more of a semblance to original communities. I guess one risk is having a dominant councillor taking charge in a ward. A ranked-ballot system would work best to support this, to ensure that the top 3 are more fairly elected (otherwise, voters would be selecting just their #1 choice and not providing their individual preference for the other two)