The Ontario Municipal Board is holding its final pre-hearing as they prepare to decide on City Council’s gerrymandering of boundaries in the face of expert reports stating the boundaries fail to meet the standards of democratic balance in representation.
Today’s pre-hearing will finalize the “issues list” and witnesses that each party will be able to call to testify during the hearing.
I’ll be liveblogging from the hearing starting at 10am.
(You can read the liveblog from the August pre-hearing here)
Some key terms and people in this hearing.
OMB panel
The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) members deciding this case are Dr. Bruce Krushelnicki and Paula Boutis. Krushelnicki is the Executive Chairman of the Environmental and Land Tribunals of Ontario, and is therefore the highest ranking member of the OMB.
City of Hamilton Legal Counsel
City Council retained outside legal counsel for the hearing as the Council voted to not accept the recommendations of professional experts Watson & Associates, instead creating their own boundaries as a Council.
The outside Counsel for the Council are Steven Ferri, partner at Loopstra Nixon LLP, and Cindy Yi, as associate at the firm.
Applicants
Two private citizens have appealed the Council’s new self-created ward boundaries.
Mark Richardson is being represented in the hearing by Hamilton lawyer Craig Burley, who is working on the case pro-bono.
Robert Dobrucki is self-representing, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, and a lawyer by trade, he is appealing as a private citizen. (Dobrucki was a guest on The Public Record Radio Show in October 2016 on the topic of ward boundaries)
And that’s a wrap – a new procedural order will be issued.
Hearing starts on October 19 at Stoney Creek Municipal Centre. (Hwy 8 and Jones Rd, last stop on the Route 55 HSR bus)
Thanks for following along today.
All raise, the Chair of todays hearing and the OMB Executive Chair leave.
Now arguing over if the appellant can qualify Dr. Zachary Spicer – who wrote his doctoral thesis and his research on municipal boundaries and political representation – can be qualified as an expert witness.
Krushelnicki states to Ferri that he can challenge the credentials at the time of the hearing when the witness is on the stand.
The City’s witness list:
1. Tony Fallis, City of Hamilton Manager of Elections
2. Gary Scandlan, Watson & Associates
Economists Ltd. Land Economist
3. Don Given, Malone Given Parsons Ltd. Land Use Planning
4. Dr. Bill Freeman History and Sociology
5. Dr. Robert Williams Municipal Ward Boundaries
Counsel Burley says he was going to call Dr. Zachary Spicer, poli sci prof at Brock, to testify, but he was an unavoidable conflict. Burley says he is seeking an alternative expert, says he needs one more day to confirm that expert.
The issue list:
– the City Council ward criteria set, are they appropriate?
– does City Council’s passed new boundaries meet the criteria that City Council set?
– IF the OMB decides the City’s criteria is not appropriate, what is the appropriate criteria for ward boundaries?
– What are the appropriate boundaries for a appropriate criteria?
– What the public consultation appropriate, if it were not, what the remedy?
– Was the City required to provide GIS data to the public during the public consultation to enable the public to create alternative ward boundaries?