Finance and Economic Development Committee

WHEREAS Subsection 217(1) of the Municipal Act, 2001 (the “Act”) authorizes a municipality to change the composition of its Council and there is no provision for such a by-law to be appealed to the Local Appeal Planning Tribunal; and WHEREAS the current composition of Ottawa City Council is confirmed by By-law No. 2005-534, which was approved by Council on November 30, 2005, and provides that, “Commencing with the 2006-2009 term of office, the City Council is composed of the mayor, elected by general vote, and 23 other members, elected on the basis of one member for each ward”; and WHEREAS the staff report titled, “City of Ottawa Ward Boundary Review (2019-2020),” recommends that an independent consultant be retained to conduct a comprehensive ward boundary review for the City of Ottawa, pursuant to the municipality’s statutory authority “to divide or redivide the municipality into wards or to dissolve the existing wards” under Subsection 222(1) of the Act, and consistent with the Terms of Reference attached as Document 3; and WHEREAS the recommended ward boundary review would be conducted without any predetermined outcome with respect to ward boundaries, and with the goal of achieving “effective representation” as well as various legislative and case law requirements and other objectives, as set out in the staff report and Terms of Reference; and WHEREAS following recent events relating to the City of Toronto’s ward boundaries, the staff report recommends that the City Clerk