Why this rural-urban mixed municipality shrunk its council and altered ward boundaries

In a move some say perpetuates a longstanding perceived rural-urban divide, Chatham-Kent is shrinking its number of councillors and tweaking ward boundaries.

It's a first for the municipality since it was born out of amalgamation in 1998 — spanning a large geographical area of southwestern Ontario. For context, Chatham-Kent is in Canada's top 10 in terms of size for municipalities. 

That big swath of land is made up of roughly 110,000 people, with less than half of the population residing in its main urban community: the city of Chatham, which sits virtually in the middle of the municipality. 

Chatham-Kent council recently voted to move ahead with reducing the number of councillors from 17 to 14, and to move around governance and boundaries in a handful of wards. That will result in one fewer representative in the current South Kent (Ward 2), East Kent (Ward 3) and North Kent (Ward 4) areas. 

Larger communities such as Chatham and Wallaceburg will scoop up addresses and residents currently on their outskirts. The changes will also result in the existing six wards growing to eight — including three in Chatham with two councillors in each. Currently, Chatham has one ward covered by six people.

A bylaw is set to come before council March 3 for final approval. Rate payers can also appeal the decision to the province. 

The new boundaries and council size are set to take effect for the 2026 municipal election.

Chatham-Kent's chief administrative officer calls the moves a "passage of time" to balance the resident-councillor ratio and representation based on community and population expansion.

Michael Duben cites growth in places like Chatham, Wallaceburg and Tilbury — along with developments in Ridgetown and Blenheim that will show up in the census in a few years.

"It's the type of thing that you need to look at all the time," he said.

"And when it starts becoming imbalanced where you have one councillor representing way less, then it makes sense to have a look at it." 

Duben says people assume the mayor will always come from Chatham but that may not always be the case.

"It may very well be that … at some point [they] come from another part of the municipality. We'll see what the next couple of elections bring us."

According to Duben, the consultant hired to analyze the municipality's makeup and provide recommendations put a heavy focus on its large geographical size.