It was unanimous.
Nineteen District of Muskoka Councillor voted in favour of a resolution politely asking the province to refrain from including Muskoka as one of the regions whose chair could be provincially appointed.
The motion was introduced at the April 20 meeting by District Councillor Tatiana Sutherland and seconded by District Councillor Nancy Alcock.
The legislation, Better Regional Governance Act, 2026, was introduced earlier this month and, if passed, would make several changes, including allowing the province to appoint the District of Muskoka Chair.
The legislation would also allow the province to appoint regional chairs in Durham, Halton, Niagara, Peel, Waterloo and York, as well as the warden of Simcoe County. It would give the provincially appointed chairs “strong chair” powers, mirroring the “strong mayor” powers and mandate that those regions (Niagara would be exempt until after the 2034 municipal election) must review their council composition following the 2026 municipal election.
“Muskoka is fundamentally different from the other regions contemplated in the Better Regional Governance Act. We’re northern, we’re a rural municipality. We’re geographically super complex, and we have completely different service delivery realities,” said Sutherland. “And at the same time. We’re already delivering on provincial priorities, so whether that’s housing, infrastructure or improving on development timelines, we’re doing it…”
Sutherland said local conditions require local leadership and used the current flooding as an example. She said the District of Muskoka Council is in the best position to appoint a chair who can respond to the issues facing Muskoka.
“This motion is not a broad commentary on the legislation. It’s about ensuring that Muskoka continues to succeed within the legislation,” added Sutherland.
Alcock reiterated that the District continues to support the direction of the province. She said some councillors have been fighting for a full governance review at the District for some time. “And I mean that when I say, I think there will be support for a reduction in the size of this particular table. I think there will be support for looking for efficiencies… on development review and planning approvals—we’ve already started talking about that so I would support if the province said in the case of Muskoka, ‘you are already on this track, this is very important to use because of what we’re doing elsewhere in the province,’ giving us a mandate letter that gave us some parametres and said, ‘this is what we would like you to achieve by x… and if you don’t achieve it by x then we’ll do it for you,'” she said.
Alcock said Muskoka’s current system for electing the District chair by District councillors at least reflects the constituents in Muskoka, “because the people that sit around this table are elected. And so, for me, that is the only way we should move forward, where there should be an exemption because this chair is therefore accountable to the people of Muskoka.”
She said Muskoka is not a municipality in the region of the Greater Toronto Area. “We have different sensibilities than the ones in the GTA do. For us, the environment and everything we do is critical not only for our economy but for our health, and I think that whoever sits in that chair needs to be accountable to the people around this table who have a very intimate knowledge about what’s important for our environment and our economy.”
Councillors agreed. They spoke of the region’s unique environment. Its forests, lakes and rivers. It’s small urban communities, lower-density development, expansive rural areas and the need for local leadership to protect the link between Muskoka’s natural environment and its economy. Some, like Lake of Bays Councillor Michael Peppard, said the proposed legislation is an attack on democracy.
In the end, with the exception of Councillors Brian Bochek, Allen Edwards and Brenada Rhodes, who were not at the meeting, District Council unanimously voted in favour of the resolution to be forwarded to the province.
District of Muskoka Chair Jeff Lehman did not participate in the discussion, although he said he got “a little emotional.”
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While I agree that appointment of the Musloka Muncipality Chair should be democratic responsibility of residents who vote in the councillors who vote for the cahai. However this council has demonstrated their lack ofleadership protecting the culture and vision for Muskoka. There are two problems and the firrst is the council is too large and not sure what they have aclieved. Secondly this council spoke of the region’s unique environment. Its forests, lakes and rivers. It’s small urban communities, lower-density development, expansive rural areas and the need for local leadership to protect the link between Muskoka’s natural environment and its economy. yet they voted in A Chair Person , J Lehman, an ex mayor of Barrie who lead the development, or distruction’ of Barrie. THis is not what we need for Muskoka and it it is ime we need leadership to maintain and developo Muskoka values.