08-12-2018, 06:33 PM
(08-12-2018, 06:13 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:(08-12-2018, 05:39 PM)Chicopee Wrote: Is phase two of ION in jeopardy depending on who is elected?
I don’t expect the current Ontario government to fund it regardless, so I assume Phase 2 is not happening soon. Having said that, Regional Council could proceed or not with all the environmental assessment and design steps that precede construction, so our election is still relevant. It’s hard to say because the chair is one vote — if the rest of Council votes to proceed over Aissa’s objections, he can’t force it to stop. I’m actually a bit unclear what he could do — de jure I think the Regional Chair doesn’t actually have much power. Normally of course the Chair has a lot of influence, but if the Chair is a complete dolt the rest of Council might just start ignoring the chair. This is a bit like what happened during Rob Ford’s mayoralty when Council voted to remove some of his powers.
Doesn't the chair have some control over the agenda? I'm not entirely clear on how that part of our municipal government works.
In any case, even if the chair has no more power than anyone else (which isn't true for sure, since they have at a minimum symbolic power), it would be one more vote against.
And yes, we are unlikely to get funding from the province in the current climate, but that could last as short as 4 years right? If we aren't ready when a more...useful...government gets elected, we won't be ready for it. And that's leaving aside the federal government entirely.