Thunder Bay City Council - (CJ Goater/Acadia Broadcasting)

After years of deliberation, city council has opted to forgo proposed changes, voting to maintain the current council structure.

The city previously established a Council Composition Review Committee, which was tasked with developing a proposal containing suggestions to adjust the current structure of council and the ward boundaries.

“I don’t always agree with every decision that we make at this table, but by and large, we make decisions,” said Current River Councillor Andrew Foulds. “We have a variety of opinions. I don’t see this system as being broken. I actually, regardless of being the only hybrid system in the province, I think it works, and I think it’s better, and I think we should be celebrating the fact that it’s better.”

Extensive work, including public consultation, led to the committee officially recommending altering the composition of City Council at Monday night’s Committee of the Whole meeting through the delivery of a report.

The report recommended changing the City Council composition to 11 members.

A mayor, two members elected at-large, and eight members elected in four wards, to be implemented before the 2026 Municipal Election.

The city began discussing making changes to the composition of council in 2020.

“You know, I’m tired of this topic,” said At-Large Councillor Mark Bentz. “I really am tired of it. I think we’ve debated it for over a year; no, it actually started in 2019, and it’s off and on, and I know the committee has had a lot of deliberations on this and a lot of time spent. I don’t want to go through that again, nor do I want to put the next council through it again.”

The committee was prepared for what was to come if their recommendation did not pass.

They highlighted that they would still see value in reviewing ward boundaries as a separate exercise.

This exercise was also proposed by Councillor Foulds, who also encouraged council to vote against the committee’s report’s suggestion before it was even presented.

The excerise was also declined by council.

The committee also highlighted that council may want to look at reviewing and exploring avenues to increase Indigenous representation on city council.

The decision still needs to be ratified at city council, but barring any changes, there will be no adjustments to council’s structure for the 2026 election.