[dennis1]

http://www.insidehalton.com/news/art...ard-boundaries

The Town of Oakville will hold a special council meeting to discuss Oakville’s ward boundary review. A date for the meeting has yet to be determined.

Ward 2 Town and Regional Councillor Cathy Duddeck, who was behind the call for the special meeting at the committee level, said all council members should weigh in on the discussion that could reshape the face of the town politically.

The boundary review has been prompted by the growing inequity of population in the existing six wards.

A Town report stated the ideal in a six-ward system should see each ward hold about 17 per cent of the total electorate.

The 2010 municipal election found Ward 1 and 2 each contain 12 per cent of the electorate while Ward 3 has 15 per cent, Ward 4 has 28 per cent, Ward 5 has 18 per cent and Ward 6 has 15 per cent.

Projected growth, particularly in north Oakville, will increase these discrepancies.

The current ward boundaries have been in place since 1990.

A revised ward system must be in place for the 2014 election.

Dr. Robert Williams, the consultant hired by the Town to conduct the boundary review, outlined numerous options, including keeping things the way they are.

“If we are going to do a proper review we have to decide ‘Can we live with what we’ve got?’” he said.

“Maybe the way growth works, it will fix itself in time,” he said.

Williams looked at the current wards as well as a 2005 Citizens’ Task Force Recommendation, which called for six large wards that would run north to south across the entire town.