Three days of the Ontario Municipal Board hearing on County ward boundaries wrapped up on Friday July 21 at Shire Hall with closing remarks from County Solicitor Wayne Faribrother (L) and Appellant Pierre Klein (R). (Quinte News file photo: Nicole Kleinsteuber)
The fate of the scope of Prince Edward County’s next election now rests in the hands of the Ontario Municipal Board.
On Friday, board member Mary Anne Sills heard closing remarks from appellant Pierre Klein and County Solicitor Wayne Fairbrother on whether or not the municipality’s nine ward/thirteen council member bylaw should go ahead.
In March 2016, Klein appealed council’s decision to reduce council size by two members and cut wards by one, merging Bloomfield with Hallowell. Over the course of the three day hearing Klein argued that the plan authored by former councillor John Thompson didn’t provide adequate voter representation as ruled necessary in the 1991 Supreme Court of Canada Carter decision in Saskatchewan.
“The County has failed to submit justification on the large deviation from 25 percent on voter parity,” said Klein in his closing remarks Friday. “This allows some constituents to have a larger voice at the council table. Numerous attempts to have the plan vetted weren’t taken and are a sharp contrast from the Jonathan Rose study completed in 2013.” He requested the bylaw be repealed and the board offer a remedy with the boundaries being redivided.
Fairbrother called Klein’s case ‘mis-focused.’
“The appellant’s case before the board was largely if not entirely focused on the issue of mathematical parity and failed to give proper regard and weight to the other factors that lead to effective representation,” Fairbrother stated.
He referenced the Carter case where section three states the Charter of Rights established a right to effective representation which “comprehends the idea of having a voice in the deliberations of government as well as the idea of having the right to bring one’s grievances and concerns to the attention of one’s government representative.”
“The appellant focused on variances from mathematical parity and completely failed to bring any compelling evidence to suggest that the residents of the County were not being effectively represented,” Fairbrother continued. “In fact, no evidence was offered by the appellant that any citizen of the County is being denied the right to bring one’s grievances and concerns to the attention of one’s government representative or having a voice in the deliberations of government under the current system or the proposed nine ward system.”
During the hearing the board heard from a handful of County residents who testified they were satisfied that the nine-ward system would achieve effective representation.
Sills reaffirmed her stance that she intends to provide a decision ‘soon so the municipality can understand there the next election will go.’
On day one, Sills stated a decision must be made by December 31, 2017 if any changes must to be made to the ballot structure for the 2018 municipal election.
“The board’s intent is to resolve this matter once and for all, one way or another,” Sills stated on Wednesday. “The board does not have the jurisdiction to specify the number of elected officials a municipality has but having said that a decision by the board may have an affect on the number of representatives you have.”
