{"id":3856,"date":"2015-09-16T13:46:12","date_gmt":"2015-09-16T17:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=3856"},"modified":"2015-09-17T07:39:09","modified_gmt":"2015-09-17T11:39:09","slug":"lake-of-bays-mayor-pushing-for-smaller-government-and-equal-representation-at-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/lake-of-bays-mayor-pushing-for-smaller-government-and-equal-representation-at-district\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake of Bays mayor wants smaller government and equal representation at District"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n[ratings]\n

Lake of Bays Mayor Bob Young has joined forces with his counterpart in Georgian Bay to push for equal representation around the District of Muskoka council table. The mayors are also calling for a decrease in the size of government at the upper-tier municipality.<\/p>\n

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Currently, there are a total of 22 District of Muskoka councillors, plus the District chair. All of the towns, plus the Township of Muskoka Lakes have four representatives while the townships of Georgian Bay and Lake of Bays have three.<\/p>\n

“So if there were to come some contentious issue, we will be out-voted by the towns even if all three townships stay together,” Young told his fellow Lake of Bays councillors at their township meeting of September 15.<\/p>\n

Young explained that the number of representatives each municipality gets was written into the Muskoka Act<\/a>, when the District Municipality of Muskoka was created, but the Act has since been repealed and while certain of its conditions were rolled into the Municipal Act,the number of representative each municipality gets was not.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there is now no constraint about who has how many representatives,\u201d said Young, adding that he and Georgian Bay Mayor Larry Braid are looking into the process of what is required to \u201creddress this imbalance.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described the procedure as \u201cbrutal.\u201d The two mayors must ask all of Muskoka\u2019s six municipalities to host a public meeting and pass a resolution supporting their bid. A resolution at the District level must also be passed and only then can the request be forwarded to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.<\/p>\n

Young said that in discussions with other District councillors about attaining equal representation for his municipality and Georgian Bay, the size of District government came up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many of us who say, \u2018well what\u2019s magic about four representatives? Is that the right number? Should it be three? Could it even be two? Certainly at 22 people around that table, it is very hard to have decision making consensus\u2026 it\u2019s a very large group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young argued that there are other upper-tier municipalities that work with fewer representatives.<\/p>\n