Article content

The prospect of city council deciding on new ward boundaries is a conflict of interest and an affront to democracy, one of the councillors said Thursday.

Administration’s recommendation that council make the final decision on new boundaries for several wards to equalize population numbers should be rejected, said Ward 11 Coun. Jeromy Farkas.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 'It's gerrymandering': Councillor breaks ranks on colleagues choosing ward boundaries Back to video

That decision should be made by an independent citizens’ panel, a practice that was observed in past years, he said.

“These kinds of changes are at the core of our democracy and should be out of the hands of politicians,” said Farkas, noting council is expected to vote on the process Monday.

He said council made similar determinations in 2016 before the last civic election that resulted in major disparities in the population of some wards, including his own.

Some of those results were contrary to what citizen groups recommended, said Farkas.

“It’s such a mess when politicians are involved — my ward was the result of gerrymandering,” said Farkas, who was first elected to council in October 2017.