Nothing to do but wait on regional governance review
Minister says he has ‘lots of runway left’ to make a decision
People wanting to know what Niagara’s political future will look like had best not hold their breath.
A decision on the restructuring of the region is potentially years away.
Speaking after a Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce breakfast Monday morning, Ontario Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steven Clark said he has “a lot of runway left” to decide the future of regional governance in Niagara.
Clark said before any decision is made, he has to review recommendations in a special advisory report on regional government commissioned by Queen’s Park.
“The challenge that we have is that we have had over 8,500 submissions. That is an unbelievable amount of public comment,” Clark said about the consultation process done for the report.
“We wanted to take our time and since the government is not sitting again until late October, that does give me some time once I receive the recommendations to review them with my cabinet colleagues and government colleagues and take a deep dive on those recommendations.”
Clark — he said he has yet to receive an advisory report on the issue by former deputy minister Michael Fenn and former Waterloo Region chair Ken Seiling — would not put a timetable on when a decision will be made save for saying it must done before the next municipal elections in 2022.
Fenn and Seiling were tasked as special advisers to investigate restructuring regional governments, and travelled to several regions, including Niagara, to gather public input. People wanting to present information could do so until May.
The report is expected to be completed soon, although the provincial legislature won’t sit again until after the federal election in October.
Since Seiling and Fenn completed their public consultation, some groups have formed to lobby the provincial government directly for particular municipal restructuring schemes.
Asked if lobbying outside the consultation process will inform
the government’s decisions, Clark would only say that he was happy to have appointed Fenn and Seiling.
“I trust in Michael and Ken to deliver recommendations and concepts to our government,” Clark said.
Eight regional municipalities — Niagara, Durham, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Oxford, Waterloo and York — and Simcoe County are part of the review.
The review is being done to “to help ensure that these municipalities are working effectively and efficiently.”
Premier Doug Ford made changes to municipal governments on the eve of the last municipal election by slashing the size of Toronto’s city council, saying the city had too many politicians.
It is not clear what direction the Ford government may take with Niagara. Brock University political science professor David Siegel told The Standard last week that it is possible that Ford, facing low poll numbers, may not enact sweeping changes to governments to avoid further backlash over government policies.