As the time quickly approaches to begin thinking about the third election in less than 2 years (yes we’ve had a federal and provincial election recently so deep breath…one more to go) I have been asked by a number of people of what each position they will be voting for.
To keep this brief, I’ll just be talking about Milton Town Council. I’m not dismissing my friends at the Halton School Boards (Public and Catholic) and the French school boards because their names will also be on the ballot for October 24th.
Your municipal ballot will have selections for the following positions:
- Regional Chair (Halton Region)
- Mayor
- Local / Regional Councillor
- Local Councillor
- Halton Public School Board Trustee
- Halton Catholic School Board Trustee
As I mentioned earlier, I’m just going to concentrate on Milton Town Council for now and use other posts for the other positions.
To get an understanding of the different positions, you’ll have to know that the Town of Milton is what’s referred to as a “lower tier government” and is part of the Regional level of government … Halton Region. Halton is comprised of 4 local municipalities – Halton Hills, Oakville, Burlington & of course Milton.
Each level of government has different responsibilities and services provided for residents. To keep this brief, the local level of government is responsible for a number of services but not limited to things like, roads, transit, parks maintenance, libraries, recreational services and snow plowing in the winter. There is much more to your local municipality, but we can go into more detail later.
The “upper tier” of government or the Regional government has other responsibilities for residents, including but not limited to, water & wastewater management, waste collection, public health services (vaccinations and mask bylaws come to mind) regional road maintenance and construction (Britannia Road comes to mind), children services, paramedics and much more.
There are other levels of government like the school boards but in this post we’ll deal with just the local and regional ones.
Milton is divided up into 4 wards with the centre point at the intersection of Derry Road and 25 (Ontario St). For Milton Town Council, the voter in each ward will elect (1) Mayor (1) Local & Regional Councillor (1) Local Councillor.
The Mayor position is referred to as the “Head of Council” and in some municipalities they’re referred to as the CEO of the town/city. The Mayor chairs the Milton Town Council along with the other 8 councillors and has one vote at the table on each issue. In addition to the local council here in Milton, the Mayor also represents Milton at Halton Region Council, which is comprised of 24 councillors in all 4 Halton area municipalities. (Oakville, Burlington, Halton Hills & Milton) and is headquartered in Oakville on Hwy 25 (Bronte Rd) just north of the 403.
The next position (the one I currently hold) is the Local and Regional Councillor. Its also commonly referred to as Halton Region Councillor (the other is kind of a mouthful if you ask me) in each ward. The Regional Councillor sits at both the Milton Town Council & is also a representative for Milton at Halton Region Counciil.
Of the 24 councillors at Halton Region, Milton has 5 representatives (Mayor, 1 Regional Councillor for each ward = 5)
The other position at Milton Town Council is the Local Councillor who represents each ward at Milton Town Hall. Like the Mayor and Regional Councillors, they have one vote each.
So as we’re going about town discussing local politics this summer and fall and you hear someone saying “I’m running for Local council” or “I’m running for Regional council” you’ll have a better understanding. If you see a candidate who is running for “Local & Regional council” it doesn’t mean they are running against the person seeking the “Local Council” position.
I hope this helps and if you have any questions, let me know in the comments and I can add more answers to the post to help make it a complete FAQ for voters as we approach October 24, 2022.
I’ll be seeing you soon….at the doors 🙂