Province provides new rules for Simcoe County council weighted voting

 

Posted November 9, 2026​

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The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has issued its regulations to implement weighted voting for Simcoe County - consistent with the County's existing method of weighted voting - for the 2026-2030 term of council.

Weighted voting at Simcoe County Council means that each municipality's voting power is determined by the number of eligible voters it represents, rather than every municipality having an equal vote. Larger municipalities, such as New Tecumseth, receive more votes than smaller municipalities. In essence, the more electors a municipality represents, the greater its voting weight when a weighted vote is called.

Under the updated weighted voting framework, each council member's vote would be weighted according to the following rules:

• Each member of council shall be entitled to a minimum of three votes.

• Where a municipality represented by a member of council has more than 5,000 municipal electors, the member of council shall be entitled to one additional vote for every 2,000 municipal electors over 5,000.

• The weighted vote for the Chair shall be equal to the member of council with the lowest number of votes.

• The Clerk of each local municipality shall, before November 15th in the year of a regular municipal election, certify in writing to the Clerk of the County of Simcoe the total number of municipal electors for the member of the municipality.

Rules determining which matters weighted voting could apply to would be a local matter, determined by the County within its procedure by-law

No changes are proposed to the Strong Mayor framework established under the Municipal Act, 2001. To support consistent municipal interpretation, this proposal clarifies how existing weighted voting arrangements interact with decisions made under Strong Mayor powers.

Municipalities would be able to continue to apply weighted voting to other council decisions as part of their weighted voting framework, including council resolutions and by-laws that are not subject to specific voting thresholds based on the number of council members.

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The following table summarizes whether weighted voting is permitted under the Municipal Act, 2001 for selected council decisions, including decisions made under the strong mayor framework:

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• Vote on a by-law proposed by the head of council under the more than one-third by-law power related to provincial priorities: NO

• Vote to override a mayoral veto of a by-law related to provincial priorities: NO

• Vote to override a mayoral veto of a council amendment to the annual municipal budget or the inyear budget amendment process: NO

• Council amendment to the proposed annual budget or a proposed in-year budget amendment: YES

• Council vote to shorten timelines in the annual budget process or the in-year budget amendment process: YES

• Other financial decisions made by council in a strong mayor municipality, including: Adoption of the tax rate by-law • Setting user fee rates; Approving long and short-term borrowing; Selling tangible capital assets; Approving execution of a grant agreement; and Making legal commitments that involve an expenditure/expense: YES

• Other council resolutions and by-laws not listed above that are not subject to specific voting thresholds based on the number of council members.: YES