Lloyd Ferguson has some blunt advice for the city-hired consultants who later this month will roll out maps showing optional changes to Hamilton's ward boundaries.

The Ancaster councillor warns there'll be a "nuclear explosion" if they suggest that 15 years after amalgamation it's time the suburbs put aside their old community names.

Ferguson says that's exactly what he heard one of the consultants propose during a public engagement session in Ancaster last winter.

"So don't go down that road," he cautioned the team from Watson & Associates Economists Ltd. who updated councillors on the boundary review this week.

Consultant Robert Williams denied saying any such thing.

"I did not say that the names should disappear. I, in fact, emphasized that even if we change the ward boundaries, the communities will still be there. They will matter.

"What we're doing is drawing different lines to elect members of council, but we're not changing Dundas into something else, we wouldn't change Ancaster into something else."

That didn't mollify Ferguson. "I know what I heard; I know I just about fell on the floor."

Regardless of what was or wasn't said, the exchange highlights the sensitivities over the issue of whether to keep the present system of 15 wards or change it to reflect growth trends and correct demographic disparities.

Later this month, the consultants will begin a new session of open houses, which will include presenting a preliminary report and maps of potential changes.

They'll use the public feedback to finalize options, which they expect to bring to council for consideration in the fall.

The pressure on council from duelling camps advocating change or maintaining the status quo is likely to be immense.

The city's population has grown by about 30,000 since amalgamation, aggravating some stark population imbalances across the wards and creating situations where residents are not equally represented around the council table.

The most glaring example is Ward 7 on the central Mountain, which has a population of about 62,000, compared to Flamborough's Ward 14 with about 17,000. The fact both areas have only one councillor with one vote suggests to some a democratic deficit that needs to be addressed, either by adjusting boundaries or creating whole new wards.

The fear among suburban councillors is a new ward, say on the Mountain, will tilt the current balance of power to the inner city. Right now, there are eight inner city councillors, seven from the outlying communities and an elected-at-large mayor.

It's important to note, however, that the principles for evaluating the ward structure include much more than population balance. They also take into account traditional community interests, transportation patterns, geographical features, demographic trends, and effective representation.

Ferguson for one is skeptical that there is a mood for change, at least in his backyard.

He says though people from other wards turned up at the meeting in his ward last winter, only two Ancaster residents were there. He said one "goes to everything and the other has political aspirations."

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Be that as it may, only about 190 people across the city did attend the 9 information sessions which spelled out the purpose and guiding principles of the review.

The consultants expect the test maps and options will generate a far higher turnout in June.

Ferguson isn't holding his breath. After 20 years in politics, it's his experience "that when people are angry they show up, when they're happy they don't."

Whether he's misreading interest levels remains to be seen. No question, however, that Ferguson is right about the nuclear consequences of monkeying around with suburban identities and names. A bumper crop of outraged letters in The Spectator regarding a similar suggestion from a reader bears ample witness to that.

Andrew Dreschel Andrew Dreschel is the city hall columnist for The Hamilton Spectator.

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