What started out as a lengthy but polite debate about the composition of County of Simcoe council, including the pros and cons of a weighted-vote system, ended with 17 councillors refusing to return to the chamber Tuesday morning.
Council was set to vote on a proposed bylaw that would have seen the number of councillors reduced from 32 to 16 — plus a full-time warden. Included in that proposed bylaw were required updates to the existing weighted-vote system, which is a system based on the electoral size of each member municipality when a recorded vote is taken.
If a recorded vote is requested, each municipality is entitled to a minimum of three votes plus one vote for each additional 2,000 electors above 5,000 electors. Larger municipalities — such as Bradford West Gwillimbury, New Tecumseth, and Innisfil — have more electorates and therefore are allotted more votes when council goes to a recorded vote.
Early on in the discussion, Severn Mayor Mike Burkett expressed concern about the weighted-vote system. He later put forward a motion for an amendment to refer the draft composition bylaw back to staff to include an amendment to repeal the current weighted-vote bylaw. If approved, that would have meant there would be no weighted-vote formula and each member of council would have one vote.
After nearly 90 minutes discussing the issue, a recorded vote was taken on Burkett’s amendment, which received 17 votes in favour and 15 against. Due to the weighted-vote system currently in place, the amendment was defeated as that resulted in 65 votes in favour and 80 against.
Following the vote, Warden Basil Clarke opted to take a 15-minute break before proceeding with the rest of the regular council meeting; however, several councillors did not return when the break was up.
“Everything we passed at the council meeting earlier was not ratified without a confirmation bylaw and there were some time-sensitive issues, including child-care funding, which will not get ratified,” Clarke said after the clerk informed him there were not enough councillors in attendance to form a quorum.
As a result, the council meeting was forced to adjourn without a confirmatory bylaw.
Among the members who did not return were Burkett, Adjala-Tosorontio Mayor Scott Anderson, Severn Deputy Mayor Judith Cox, Oro-Medonte Mayor Randy Greenlaw, Penetanguishene Deputy Mayor Dan La Rose, Oro-Medonte Deputy Mayor Peter Lavoie, Essa Mayor Sandie Macdonald, Clearview Mayor Doug Measures, Tiny Deputy Mayor Sean Miskimins, Midland Deputy Mayor Beth Prost, Penetanguishene Mayor Doug Rawson, Wasaga Beach Mayor Brian Smith, Essa Deputy Mayor Michael Smith, Wasaga Beach Deputy Mayor Tanya Snell and Clearview Deputy Mayor Paul Van Staveren. Alternate councillors David Snutch from Ramara and Steffen Walma from Tiny also did not return.
Regarding the loss of quorum, Clarke told BarrieToday in an email that councillors are all “highly principled and do what they feel is in the best interest to represent their residents, communities and the Simcoe County region.” And while he understands the position of those concerned about representation at county council, Clarke, who is the mayor of Ramara, said he does not agree with it.
“I believe the voices of all communities will still be heard. I am from a small community myself and I am supportive of this change to reduce the size of county council while redistributing our weighted-vote structure, which is rarely used but does provide effective representation by population based on electorates,” he added.
On the social-media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Bradford West Gwillimbury Deputy Mayor Raj Sandhu called out his fellow councillors for their behaviour.
“This is sickening that most of the (Simcoe County) council walked out of the meeting just because the vote on (the) amendment didn’t go (their) way. This is block voting at its best. That is why we need (a) full review of the county,” he wrote.
In a second post, Sandhu then thanked the other members of county council for sticking around.
“Thank you to (the) 15 members of county council that believe in the process and stayed ready (to) complete work of the county for our residents,” he wrote.
Midland Mayor Bill Gordon called it “disgraceful partisan behaviour” in his online post, adding it served to do nothing but delay of the inevitable vote.
“The intentional loss of quorum was a political temper tantrum. Shame,” he wrote in his response online.
Disgraceful partisan behaviour that serves nothing but delay of the inevitable vote and without any care given to the deprived $150 million of childcare funding to our residents as collateral damage. The intentional loss of quorum was a political temper tantrum. Shame.
— Mayor Bill Gordon 🇨🇦 (@billgordon_ca) March 25, 2025
Earlier in the meeting, Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin made a similar statement in which she supported the weighted-vote system.
“I agree every municipality in the county is equal … but that’s also like saying Prince Edward Island should have the same number of MPs as Ontario. Our system is based on representation by population,” she said.
“I would remind this house that 99 per cent of our votes are not weighted. We agree way more than we disagree … and we always work for the greater good,” Dollin added.
Cox expressed her concern that reducing the size of council to 16 could allow a significant power shift for larger municipalities.
“Sixteen people are much easier to meet with and sway than trying to do it with 32. You have the power in an urban area and not in a rural area. I am pretty sure that frightens a lot of people about what would happen in the future,” she said prior to the vote.
“The chances of a split council or a controlled council are much less with 32 than with 16,” Cox added.
Clearview’s mayor agreed, adding he believed there was already an “imbalance of voting power” in place between the more urban and rural municipalities.
“Not long ago, there was a very clear vote that would have failed. The weighted vote took it through and it did carry,” said Measures. “The issue about the weighted vote is fundamental to how democracy works. Each individual is elected. Each has a seat and each has a vote.
“I think that … we should respect the fact that, fundamentally, we are a ward system. Each municipality is a different ward, and I think they should be treated equally and fairly and impartially,” he added.
As a result of the 17 councillors leaving the council chamber, the matter has been pushed to a later date.
“We will work with our clerk’s department to confirm options for a path forward related to the council composition process,” Clarke said. “Until we have those details confirmed, the matter of council composition is deferred to a future meeting.
“As we saw after today’s brief demonstration, committee of the whole proceeded and councillors progressed the important business of representing the people of Simcoe County and discussing services, programs, investments and decisions for our region,” the warden added. “I expect councillors will do the same moving forward, continuing to put residents first.”
Clarke said several other remaining items from Tuesday’s council agenda requiring time-sensitive funding decisions will be addressed during a special virtual meeting of council on Wednesday, March 26 beginning at 1:30 p.m.
