Governance views to be presented to Falls council
Politicians have not taken formal stance on restructuring
Niagara Falls city council wants to hear all sides before possibly taking a position on governance in the region.
A motion put forward by Coun. Carolynn Ioannoni was approved during a recent meeting requesting politicians be provided reports advocating different amalgamation ideas.
The province announced in January it would put Niagara Region under review, along with other regional governments in Ontario.
Since then, there have been widely different views put forth.
One report, promoted by Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati and written by former Niagara Falls Progressive Conservative election campaign staffer Nicholas Tibollo, states the region should be reorganized from 12 lowertier municipalities into four cities — St. Catharines, Niagara Falls (including Fort Erie and Niagara-on-theLake), Welland and West Niagara.
Another group that includes former Brock University president Jack Lightstone and Mike Watt from Walker Industries has been advocating a single municipality for Niagara.
In a brief submitted to provincial advisers consulting with the public about regional governance, the Town of Fort Erie raised the idea of becoming a standalone municipality.
St. Catharines council approved a report backing the current system with some refinements.
Niagara Falls city council has not officially taken a stance.
Ioannoni said for council to speak informed, it needs to see a staff report outlining opinions.
That said, she believes the provincial government has its own agenda, regardless of what
lower-tier municipalities have to say.
“I think (Premier) Doug Ford is going to come in and do what he wants to do, but I want to know both sides and I think it’s incumbent upon us to be informed on both sides so that we can speak as a council.”
Veteran city councillor and former longtime mayor Wayne Thomson said Niagara Falls would be the “biggest loser” if amalgamated with communities not in the same financial shape.
“The worst situation that could happen would be one municipality,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with three or four.”
Thomson said Niagara Falls benefits from receiving about $25 million a year for hosting two casinos.
“Whoever we’re amalgamated with is going to benefit from that.”
He said the city has done a good job with its debt, which from 2015 to 2018 dropped to $48.1 million from $57.7 million. According to a presentation made by staff earlier this year, the debt was projected to fall to $44.4 million in 2019.
“We’ve done a great job on our infrastructure with the money that we’ve had coming in,” said Thomson, noting many parks have been revitalized in recent years.
Thomson said Niagara Falls has global recognition, welcoming about 14 million visitors annually, a fact the province should consider when dealing with any possible restructuring in the region.
Thomson suggested if amalgamation is to happen the city try to convince the province to bring together tourism destinations Niagara Falls and Niagara-onthe-Lake.
He said although he does not support a traditional ward system for individual municipalities — where councillors are elected to represent certain areas rather than the community at large — he could see it working differently with an amalgamated municipality involving Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake.
“We can probably have Niagara-on-the-Lake one ward and Niagara Falls another ward and reduce the people on the council,” he said, adding both destinations would maintain individual identities.
“I think we’ve got something really special here. I think that would be a great opportunity for us.”