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Simcoe County council raises concerns over province’s plan to appoint warden

April 24, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

Simcoe County council will see the number of regional councillors reduced from 32 to 17 after the next municipal election.

Reducing the number of councillors was seen, for the most part, as a favourable move by the current county council. However, the introduction of the Better Regional Government Act will also allow the province to appoint the county warden, rather than the warden being elected by the current council.

This has raised concerns from members of county council that a provincially appointed warden, especially someone from outside of the region, will not have the experience required to fulfil the position.

The new legislation will allow the province to appoint a warden from anywhere in the province.

County councillors are pushing back against the proposed overhaul of regional governance. They say the legislation overrides the local decision-making process.

The Better Regional Governance Act, 2026, would significantly reshape how upper-tier municipalities across Ontario are run.

The changes were up for discussion at the Simcoe County Council meeting on Tuesday, April 14.

“I do believe that members of council who represent residents should always be elected, but I think we are too far away from that now,” said New Tecumseth Deputy Mayor Stephanie MacLellan at Tuesday’s meeting. “To me, this reeks of provincial political control. Strong mayors’ powers have resulted in very few new houses, but it sure has got a lot of CAO’s fired with big payouts from the taxpayer. Democracy is dying, and this is what it looks like. I don’t think the province has any business appointing our head of council.”

Essa Mayor Sandie Macdonald is not the only one on council with concerns about the legislation.

Madonald said she researched the legislation.

“They want a centralized oversight for provincial appointments to ensure alignment with provincial policies, priorities and standards across the counties,” Macdonald said. “I believe we have that already. They (provincial government) also said consistency and uniformly appointed Wardens can promote consistent service, by-laws, implementation and procedures between the counties – which we already do.”

Macdonald also said the provincial appointments may be appointed from anywhere in the province and may lack experience, having not “lived and worked, and been a part of the County of Simcoe.”

Innisfil mayor Lynn Dollin requested council send a letter to the province outlining their concerns.

“I think we should be advocating for democracy,” Dollin said. “When the province announces something they are going to do, we either say, great, go ahead, or really dumb idea, or sometimes we say, really dumb idea, but if you insist on doing it anyway, make sure you do A, B and C. I think that’s where we should go with this. I think we should go with, we don’t like the idea of an appointed chair, but if you insist on going down this road, make sure it’s someone who knows Simcoe County, has lived in Simcoe County, make sure it’s someone with governance experience.”

Dollin put forth a motion requesting that county council send a letter to the province detailing council’s concerns.

The motion was passed.

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