The problem with double-duty councillors
When you get past the bragging, the finger pointing, the fact-challenged proclamations and the spin, politics isn’t that sexy.
The day-to-day decision making in the halls of power, while important to the lives of citizens, is pretty dull.
Roads. Taxes. Sewage. Housing. None of it lights the imagination ablaze.
Governance is one such issue. The mere mention of tinkering with our political arrangements causes eyes to glaze over.
But we have an important governance decision coming up, and you would do well to pay attention. This is your democracy after all.
We get the government we deserve, as they say, and if you cannot be bothered to pay attention to it, you cannot complain when it fails to meet your needs.
On Sept. 15, regional council will vote on a new system of governance called “double direct,” a.k.a. “dual duty,” a.k.a. “not a particularly great idea.”
Council will decide if St. Catharines can elect six people who will sit simultaneously as city and regional councillors.
This would replace the current system, in which St. Catharines elects six at-large councillors to the Region.
Niagara Region is asking for feedback before the vote at council, and has posted an informational video about the new system and a threequestion survey. It will also hold public meetings.
Under the proposed system St. Catharines voters would elect 12 councillors to city hall as they do now, with each ward represented by two politicians.
Under the new system, one councillor per ward would also represent the city at regional council. This means all St. Catharines councillors, even those going to the Region, would have to run in a ward.
And that is where things get a bit sticky.
Our regional councillors are supposed to be the voice of everyone in the city, not just the interests of one ward. And sometimes, decisions that are for the best for Niagara might not be ideal for a particular ward. The needs of the many, and all that.
A quick thought experiment highlights the problem here:
Councillor Bobby McBobFace is elected in St. Patrick’s ward. In his ward is a Niagara Regional Police building that employs several hundred people who spend their money on businesses in the ward every day.
The police, however, need a new building located in a ward across the city.
From a regional perspective, the move is good for the police, providing better facilities that will improve public safety. The ward the police building is moving to will see an economic boost because of the new wave of people working in the area.
But the loss of the building is a blow for the businesses in St. Patrick’s ward. Some of them say they won’t survive if the police move.
What is Bobby McBobface to do? As a regional councillor, there are good reasons to support the move. As a ward councillor, however, he feels compelled to defend the interests of the people who elected him.
Poor councillor McBobface becomes the walking embodiment of the phrase “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
So the proposed double direct system is something of a mess. For any problem it solves, it creates new ones.
It certainly provides no guidance to help councillors navigate the inevitable conflict of interest between their regional and ward duties.
And what about the regional chair’s office? Currently, regional council appoints the chairperson from its members. Could a dualduty councillor be appointed as chair? That would effectively mean they would have to surrender their ward seat — being a ward rep and regional chair is a practical impossibility — leaving the voters to be represented at city hall by a runner-up without a mandate.
If they cannot stand for the chair’s seat, that means no St. Catharines representative could ever become chairperson again.
In practical terms, dual-direct doesn’t save tax dollars. Yes, it means reducing the pool of Niagara politicians by six, but the dual-duty councillors will be paid by both levels of government. So no savings there.
Losing six politicians is, in and of itself, neither a good nor bad move. It all depends on what those politicians do.
Proponents will argue more direct communication between city and regional councils via dualduty reps will provide some tangible benefits. At this point, though, I don’t see this as a substantial saving grace.
Some of my objections could be answered by making the six-dual representatives at-large, rather than ward councillors. I’m not sure a city our size needs two councillors per ward. However, that is not what is being proposed, and there seems little stomach for making that kind of change at city hall.
That’s my view of it, anyway. Yours may be different.
One way or the other, the proposal comes to a vote at the Region in less than a month. You’d be well served by paying attention and getting involved.
For more information visit the region’s website at www.niagararegion.ca/government/council/ double-direct.