October 24, 2022
By Peter Cohen
The most important issue this election is not the environment, or housing affordability, or inflation. It’s trust, a front on which many councillors have failed to impress.
On May 25th, over objections from regional advisory bodies, agricultural associations, community groups, and the results of public consultations, 15 councillors and Chair Henry voted for a Land Use Scenario created by BILD, a developer lobbying group. Not only did BILD’s Scenario not go through public consultation, but regional staff pointed out that BILD had left out important factors in their calculations, and so BILD’s Land Use Scenario likely did not accurately predict the amount of land that would need to be used.
16 members of Regional Council voted for a Land Use Scenario that did not go through public consultation, directly contradicted the majority of community input, and did not even fulfill its main purpose. Beyond the negative impacts this decision will have on farmers, housing affordability, flooding, and our ability to fight climate change, there’s the simple issue of trust. Regional Council ignored the desires and interests of the people they’re supposed to represent, and in doing so, undermined their own trustworthiness.
| Municipality | Voted for the BILD Scenario | Voted against the BILD Scenario |
| Durham Chair | John Henry | |
| Ajax | Shaun Collier Marilyn Crawford Joanne Dies Sterling Lee | |
| Brock | John Grant | Ted Smith |
| Clarington | Adrian Foster | Joe Neal |
| Oshawa | Dan Carter Bob Chapman Tito-Dante Marimpietri Rick Kerr Brian Nicholson | John Neal |
| Pickering | Kevin Ashe David Pickles Dave Ryan | Maurice Brenner |
| Scugog | Wilma Wotten Bobbie Drew | |
| Uxbridge | Gord Highet | |
| Whitby | Chris Leahy Rhonda Mulcahy Deidre Newman Elizabeth Roy Steve Yamada |
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