Council passes bylaw to put question on 2026 municipal election ballot
Administrator | Feb 27, 2026 | Comments 9
Council passed a bylaw at its last meeting authorizing the placement of a question on the ballot for the 2026 municipal election.
The question to be submitted to the electors is as follows:
“Are you in favour of a third-party review of Council size and related ward boundaries?”
The results of this question will be legally binding on the municipality under Section 8.2 of the Municipal Elections Act only if:
1. At least 50 per cent of the eligible electors in the municipality vote on the question; and
2. More than 50 per cent of the votes cast on the question are in favour of the result.
Implementation and Estimated Costs
If the majority vote “Yes”: The municipality states it will do everything in its power to implement a third-party review in a timely manner. The estimated cost of conducting this review is between $75,000 and $100,000.
If the majority vote “No”: The municipality shall not take any action to implement a third-party review of council size or ward boundaries for a period of four years following voting day.
Any person or entity may appeal the wording of the question to the Chief Electoral Officer of Ontario. Appeals must be based on the grounds that the question is not clear, concise, and neutral, or that it cannot be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” (per Section 8.1(2) of the Act).
A notice of appeal setting out the objections and supporting reasons must be filed with the Municipal Clerk within 20 days of the notice of the passing of the by-law. The deadline is Thursday, March 19, 2026.
For more information regarding this bylaw or the upcoming election processes in the County of Prince Edward, please contact: Catalina Blumenberg, Municipal Clerk, at cblumenberg@pecounty.on.ca or call 613.476.2148 extension 1021.
County issues public notices for 2026 municipal election ballot question
FEB. 4: The County of Prince Edward has published a statutory public notice about placing a question on the 2026 municipal election ballot.
The notice informs the public that County council intends to pass a bylaw placing the following question on the ballot: “Are you in favour of a third-party review of Council size and related ward boundaries?”
Council is to vote on the bylaw during its Feb. 24 meeting.
After the bylaw is passed, any person or entity may appeal the wording of the question to the Chief Electoral Officer of Ontario. Appeals must be based on the grounds that the question is not clear, concise, and neutral, or that it cannot be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” (per Section 8.1(2) of the Municipal Elections Act).
A notice of appeal setting out the objections and supporting reasons must be filed with the Municipal Clerk within 20 days of municipality issuing a notice that the bylaw has passed.
The results of this ballot question will be legally binding on the municipality under Section 8.2 of the Municipal Elections Act only if:
– At least 50 per cent of the eligible electors in the municipality vote on the question; and
– More than 50 per cent of the votes cast on the question are in favour of the result.
If the majority vote “Yes”, the municipality is to do everything in its power to implement a third-party review in a timely manner. The estimated cost of conducting this review is between $75,000 and $100,000.
If the majority vote “No”, the municipality will not take any action to implement a third-party review of council size or ward boundaries for a period of four years following voting day.
Visit the County website for more information or contact Catalina Blumenberg, Municipal Clerk, at 613.476.2148 ext. 1020 or by email at cblumenberg@pecounty.on.ca
Filed Under: Local News
The Wards, as such, are historical and should probably remain the same for the sake of history. Would a smaller “roving council” system work, where everyone’s interests are seen to by all of council, with a mix of half/half rural and town representations, with the Mayor position as overseer? Just curious, as I know nothing about such things.
Begs the question then, how do the other municipalities seem to manage quite well with fewer councillors? The bigger question is equal representation. Some PEC residents have 3 or 2 voices on council representing their interests while many have just one. That is not close to democratic equal representation. Change is indeed in order.
There are municipalities in Ontario with much a smaller council size, larger populations and managing quite nicely. As for cost savings, losing some of the staffing increases of sunshine salaries could help fix roads and address some needs of taxpayers.
Cutting the size of council will not save us any material tax dollars and will only negatively impact the work the remaining council is able to do.
Being a councillor is expected to be a part time role, and it’s certainly not one people do for the money. They earn a small payment of roughly $25k. If we cut out half the council, we would save $175k and with 11,000+ ratepayers, that’s about $15 each.
The real cost would be in what’s lost. The burdens of the lost councillors, including all the extensive additional committee work, would fall to the those councillors remaining and, with it being a part time role, they simply wouldn’t be able to as thoughtfully address the same number of issues in depth nor have the time to truly engage with twice as many constituents. The remaining councillors would be spread too thin.
We are all better served by keeping council at it’s current size.
Problem being there has to be 50 % of voters turnout and over 50 % of that needs to vote yes. We (almost) never get 50 % voter turnout so it should be 50 % of the actual votes cast.
Last time we were asked nothing came of it. im not holding my breath this time either.
Excellent. Thank you.
They are. Interim CAO committed to that at Budget in December.
Now if they’d just review the size of Staffing!