Bracebridge General Committee has unanimously endorsed a resolution asking the province to exempt Muskoka from proposed legislation that would allow the Ontario government to appoint the District chair.
The motion follows a unanimous vote by District of Muskoka council in April supporting the same request.
Ontario introduced the Better Regional Governance Act, 2026 last month. If passed, the bill would allow the province to appoint regional chairs in several upper-tier municipalities, including the District Municipality of Muskoka.
The legislation would also apply to Durham Region, Halton Region, Niagara Region, Peel Region, Waterloo Region, York Region and Simcoe County. It would also grant “strong chair” powers similar to Ontario’s strong mayor legislation and require those municipalities to review council composition following the 2026 municipal election.
Councillor Tatiana Sutherland, who brought the motion forward, said Muskoka is fundamentally different from the larger urban regions included in the legislation.
“Our service delivery realities are different, the geography is different, the population density contrast is stark,” she said during the meeting. “We have 33 people per square kilometre versus over 600 people per square kilometre on average with the southern regions contemplated by this legislation.”
Sutherland said Muskoka’s current governance structure is functioning effectively and pointed to recent housing development as evidence.
“We are delivering housing at a rate never seen before in this region,” she said. “Part of that has to do with the fact that our District Council is cooperative, functional, and has prioritized housing.”
Councillor Don Smith supported the motion, saying the proposal undermines local democracy.
“I’m disappointed because we shouldn’t need to be discussing this,” he said. “It undermines the ability of municipal politicians to represent the voters of Muskoka.”
Mayor Rick Maloney said the motion is not intended to oppose the legislation outright, but rather to urge the province to consider Muskoka separately from the other municipalities included in the bill.
“This is about saying to the minister, you have in the legislation the ability to exercise options when it comes to the appointment and/or election of a district chair,” he said.
The resolution approved by Bracebridge General Committee will now be forwarded to the province.
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Doug Ford and his minions prefer opaque, dictatorial government not democratic and transparent.
It’s not surprising he wants to dictate and appoint a District chair with strong powers like the strong mayor powers to override elected councillors.
Democracy is just red tape for Doug Ford preventing things from getting done his way.
Might as well save the taxpayer millions of dollars and get rid of powerless councillors altogether.
Ford makes entirely false statements almost at the rate of the orange clown down south.
But most Ontario residents are finally catching on. Better late than never.
“New poll puts leaderless Ontario Liberals ahead of Ford’s Progressive Conservatives”
Because of his lies about the jet and because he actually passed legislation to keep his phone records a secret. He obviously has a lot to hide.
All Ford’s corruption and lies are finally catching up to him. How bad is it when a party without a leader is polling higher?
He falsely claimed other premiers have jets but that’s not true either.
“Yes, Doug Ford, Quebec bought private jets — but not for the premier’s travels”
“We asked Canada’s premiers if they fly private. Here’s what they said”
None have a private jet. Commercial with the odd charter for a long trip. Which is fine.
“$28.9M private jet province bought, plans to sell, could have used only 10% of Ontario airports”
His Gravy Plane was likely mostly to go from the Island airport to Muskoka airport where the runway is long enough. On the way to his cottage in Port Sydney.
Which explains why he was desperate to have jets at the Island airport.
Everything he said about the Science Centre is not true according to engineers and architects.
He plans a $14 billion deficit for this year. Almost double Wynne’s.
Mismanagement like that deserves a jet?
Another, of many, campaign promises broken.
While he plans a ridiculously expensive tunnel under the 401.
Maybe “Leaderless Liberals” will be a winning option on the next ballot.
Our MPP Graydon Smith can make the change if he wants to. But maybe he signed off on this. What’s he say?
It’s pretty rich of Mayor Maloney to oppose this when he kept his strong Mayor powers unlike Mayor Kelly of Muskoka Lakes who is not using them. Ok for Maloney to grab more powers then oppose when he’s losing them at the District.
The special interests have way too much sway in Muskoka.
Every person in Ontario should be against the provincial government appointing chair persons for regional or district government. What our town council should also do is push for a restructuring of local/district government. Councilor Sutherland points out the number of people per square kilometer but fails to mention the number of district councilors compared to more densely populated regions/districts. We have too many district councilors and we have to much overlap of service. For example; Explain to me why a Bracebridge councilor should have to deal with the district about parking on Manitoba Street. Roads should be looked after by the municipalities not the district.