‘A mockery of democracy’: Changed vote causes division at Region of Waterloo council

A decision to change a vote during a Region of Waterloo special council meeting had colleagues around the horseshoe calling the process into question.

It happened after North Dumfries mayor and regional Councillor Sue Foxton asked to change a vote she made on the Waterloo Regional Police Service’s 2026 budgets.

The police service’s capital and operating budgets had been discussed earlier in the day during a meeting of the Strategic Planning and Budget Committee. During that meeting, Foxton had voted in favour of approving the budgets.

However, on Tuesday night, when it came time for councillors to vote on the capital budget during the special council meeting, Foxton voted against the decision made at committee.

Councillors Pam Wolf, Jim Erb, Doug Craig, Michael Harris, Joe Nowak, Dorothy McCabe and Regional Councillor Karen Redman voted in favour of accepting the capital budget.

Councillors Sue Foxton, Matt Rodrigues, Joe Gowing, Chantal Huinink, Natasha Salonen, Jan Liggett, Colleen James and Berry Vrbanovic voted against approving the police’s capital budget.

Councillor Sandy Shantz was not at council at the time of the vote.

The result meant the motion to approve the police’s capital budget did not pass by a slim margin of 8 – 7.

Before council voted on a bylaw that would enact the results of the budget deliberations, Regional Chair Redman called for a five-minute break.

When council reconvened, Councillor Foxton spoke.

“I’d like to reconsider my vote and move it back to what I voted before, which is the positive for the police capital forecast,” Foxton said.

“My understanding is Councillor Foxton would like to change her vote, having voted in error,” regional clerk Tim Brubacher explained. “In this situation we would correct her vote.”

The change meant the police’s capital budget would then be approved by a vote of 8 in favour, with 7 opposed.

Councillor Salonen spoke up after the change was made.

“I do get and appreciate that we have updated and corrected votes in the past, however the wording that Councillor Foxton used wasn’t that she voted in error, it was that she wanted to change her vote to how she voted at committee,” Salonen said. “My interpretation of that is that, with intent, you voted in the negative at this point in time.”

Previously in the meeting, another councillor was allowed to change their vote because they immediately brought up that they had voted in error.

“I am challenging that a little bit in terms of what was the intent behind – did you mean to actually vote opposed or was it in error?” Salonen said.

“I am staying with my original vote [at committee],” Foxton responded.

Councillor Vrbanovic was also clearly upset with the change.

“I think this is really calling into question the way the democratic process runs, and I am just going to be noted on record that this is really making a mockery of democracy,” Vrbanovic said.

When Chair Redman moved to call for a vote on a bylaw that would enact the proceedings of the meeting Salonen raised her concerns again with a question to the clerk.

“Normally I always vote in favour of this bylaw, but if I don’t agree with what happened at council – if I don’t agree with what just happened with the change of votes, is voting [the bylaw] down essentially saying that I don’t agree with what just happened?” she asked.

Brubacher said the vote would be recorded as opposition to the bylaw, but the interpretation of what that action meant would be up to each individual.

Vrbanovic also took the chance to once again voice his own opinion about what had happened.

“I have been in elected office at the city or regional level for 31 years and I have never seen something like this in my entire political career,” he said.

“It’s making a mockery of democracy,” he reiterated.

Councillor Liggett was also upset by the proceedings.

“I just want to say how disturbed I am by what just happened. It looks like there was some maneuvering of votes in order to get what people wanted,” she said. “It more than makes a mockery of the entire day – it puts us all in a bad situation with the public. I am actually disgusted by what happened.”

Councillor James spoke next.

“I have concerns about how things played out, regardless of how I vote or whatnot,” she said. “When people are questioning process, the democratic process, it is something that should be looked into and taken seriously. I have been around this table for a few years, I sat and watched this table for many years before that. It’s not sitting right with me as well, and I want that on record also.”

“This is not only not sitting right with me because of the change of Councillor Foxton’s vote but also the fact that another representative of the police board just joined online that would have also changed the vote,” Councillor Huinink said, referencing the fact that Councillor Shantz had joined the meeting virtually after the brief break following the initial vote.

“I find it mysterious that it happened right after the police vote took place,” Huinink concluded.

At that point, Chair Redman asked councillors to vote on the bylaw, however the software councillors use to vote, eScribe, crashed, causing a delay.

Councillor Craig took the opportunity to speak his mind.

“The procedural bylaw is in place to protect the public and to protect us in terms of how we go forth. I’m a strong believer that we must stick to the rules. I agree with Councillor Vrbanovic even though we are on different points of view with regards to the issue,” Craig said. “I don’t agree with the interpretation of the bylaw in terms of what just happened.”

Foxton then asked her colleagues to raise their hands if they believed the situation needed to be looked into further. Councillor Redman said the vote on the bylaw had already been called, but she would entertain a discussion about the issue afterwards.

“Chair, if we pass the bylaws now, all you’re doing is actually further exacerbating the exact thing that numerous members of this council have expressed concerns about in terms of how this process runs,” Vrbanovic said. “I think what we’re hearing, and we’ve heard numerous people speak up, is the way this was handled is wrong and it needs to be corrected. And so, I ask the clerk, how do we correct this issue?”

“My understanding is we were correcting it,” Brubacher said. “Councillor Foxton informed me that she wanted to correct her vote. That’s the process that we have done whenever a councillor has asked us to say, ‘I voted incorrectly, I would like to correct it.’ In this case, yes, it changed the vote, but that’s the process from my perspective. We’re following our past precedent.”

Council was given the option to reconsider the vote on the police capital budget, but instead decided to proceed with voting on the bylaw to accept the results of the meeting. That vote was done orally due to continued technical issues with eScribe.

The vote to approve the bylaw, and therefore, the budget, passed by a vote on 9 to 7. Those in favour included Chair Redman and Councillors Craig, Erb, Foxton, Harris, McCabe, Nowak, Shantz and Wolf.

The budget includes a 5.1 per cent tax increase for regional services, including the Waterloo Regional Police Service. It means an increase of $142 per year for the average household.

Next day clarity

Speaking with CTV News on Wednesday, Foxton said she didn’t have a change of heart during the meeting but rather made a mistake when she voted against the police budget.

“I pushed no, I shouldn’t have pushed no,” Foxton said. “I made a mistake. It’s that simple.”

Foxton added no one approached her during the recess.

“I would have said so if somebody came up to me or did anything and I would have said so. But no,” Foxton said.

“What happened yesterday, I don’t think any of us had ever experienced before. I relied on our clerk, who was the expert in the room for procedural,” Redman said.

“I am troubled by how it unfolded. I think it was the end of a very long day, and again, I relied on our clerk,” Redman added.

“The fact that it came together at such a pivotal vote, I think, caused people’s emotions to run high,” Redman said.

“There’s a process around these things and it’s not normal for us to be in a situation where people can change a vote,” Vrbanovic said on Wednesday.

While council eventually passed the police capital budget and the overall budget, members said they want better clarification of when votes can be changed.

“I think what was pretty evident yesterday is that there’s a gap in our procedural bylaw about how we deal with requests to change votes. And so, it’s something that I think I’ll be looking into a little bit more going forward,” regional councillor Matt Rodrigues said. “I think there’s ways to improve our procedural bylaw to clarify those circumstances where there’s a vote requested to be changed, perhaps where there isn’t an error, but rather, a change of heart.”