In this year of so many elections, we still have one more to go. Except this time, we don’t get a vote!
A new District Chair of Muskoka will be chosen on December 5th. We know it will not be a woman. Nominations have closed and six people have applied, all of them men. Four of them were candidates in the Muskoka municipal elections held last month. Three of them failed to get elected. Another candidate has a cottage in Muskoka but lives in Barrie. He ran in the last Provincial election as a Liberal and did not get elected. The sixth candidate has never been elected to political office.
The District Chair is chosen by District Council at their Inaugural meeting in December. Whoever they choose will get paid over a hundred grand a year plus other perks and with pre-determined annual pay raises during their four-year term. It is the cushiest political job in Muskoka and only 22 people get to decide who that person will be.
It is also a fairly powerful position because that individual has responsibility for dealing directly with the provincial government on a number of important Muskoka issues.
As people who regularly read my articles will be aware, I am a strong believer that District (regional government) in Muskoka has grown well beyond its original intent. There are areas of its current responsibilities that could be better managed at the local municipal level such as roads and some areas of infrastructure. Their bureaucracy is huge, with over 800 employees. Further, there are almost as many elected councillors at District as there are in the entire City of Toronto. Each of these councillors receive two stipends, one from the District of Muskoka and the other from their local council on which they also sit.
In my view, Muskoka is over-governed, not because of our local municipalities who generally are more cost-efficient and accountable, but rather because this top level of municipal governance largely operates without the public scrutiny and oversight that local municipalities get.
Because District councillors wear two hats, their main focus is on the municipality they represent. That is where their votes come from, and it is most often issues at the local level that provide them with a profile and the ability to get re-elected. Too often, initiatives at the District level, issues that affect taxation, and assessment, go unnoticed, with little public scrutiny and even less media attention.
I have, in the past, argued that the District chair, should not be elected at large but I have recently changed my view about how all members of the District of Muskoka Council should be elected.
My concern about electing the District chair at large, across Muskoka, is that we would be creating a “Super Mayor” with a Muskoka-wide mandate, which would place the mayors of the local municipalities in a subordinate position.
However, it is now my view that if District government is here to stay, as it appears to be, the highest-paid political official should either be elected at large or have a constituency from which he or she has been elected. The latter would be no different than the Prime Minister of Canada or the Premier of Ontario, neither of whom are elected at large but rather have received their elected vote at the constituency level.
It would be unfair to suggest that this be the criteria for the election of a District chair scheduled for this December. But it is a change that I think the provincial government should consider for the future.
As well, I think the time has come for the separation of District councillors from local municipal councillors. In addition to the issue of double-dipping on remuneration, there should also be a concern about the possibility of conflicts of interest between the two legislated bodies. There are a number of regional governments in Ontario where councillors sit on either their local council or the regional council, but not both.
One model to consider would be to directly elect two District councillors from each of the six Muskoka municipalities. Those regional councillors would not sit on the local municipal council. District council would then be cut in half and if municipal councils followed suit by reducing their council representation by two, there would be a significant reduction of municipal politicians in Muskoka.
For now, however, we need to live with the situation we have and that is that 22 individuals will again decide who gets the top-paying political job in Muskoka. At the very least, I would hope those people recognize the seriousness of that responsibility as they are acting for all the citizens of Muskoka who do not have a vote.
As one of those citizens, I hope they would support a candidate who actually lives in Muskoka and understands the needs and aspirations of both permanent and seasonal residents. I would also hope they would choose a candidate who actually has elected political experience in Muskoka and one who would encourage a hard look at the functions of regional government and the reforms that are badly needed now, without sacrificing local municipal councils.
That would be a good first step.
Hugh Mackenzie
Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District of Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.
Hugh has also served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.
In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.
Currently, Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler.
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