GNCC seeks public input on regional government
Before the province comes calling at the region with governance reform proposals, Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce (GNCC) wants some information in hand.
With Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government pushing a review of Ontario’s municipal governments, with a possibility of restructuring to follow, the chamber is reaching out to shed some light on public sentiment when it comes to regional governance.
“We need to get a little bit of a pulse,” said GNCC president and CEO Mishka Balsom, after the organization launched an online survey last week to engage Niagara residents and business owners on the issue.
“It’s not a bottom-up approach. … We don’t have a choice,” said Balsom.
With a narrow window before the review process gets underway, the chamber and other Niagara institutions need information to make their voices heard, she said.
With that in mind the chamber is proceeding with its survey, which takes roughly four minutes to complete, before compiling a report outlining the current state of regional governance and examining various models ranging from amalgamation to other collaborative models used around the world.
“The models are endless,” said Balsom.
She said the information from the survey will be rolled into the report that will examine issues of cost, service delivery, efficiency, business attraction and government responsiveness, as it relates to various governance models.
“We need to go into this situation with eyes wide open, and for that we need data.”
The Ford government announced the governance review of Ontario’s eight regional governments, Niagara included, on Jan. 15, assigning Michael Fenn and Ken Seiling to head the process. Experts and politicians alike were quick to cite the announcement as a move toward possible top-down amalgamations.
In a joint statement this week, Niagara’s 12 mayors said they agree with the province’s assertion that there is room for improvement in Niagara’s regional government, given the broad changes to the region in the nearly 50 years since it was formed. The statement does, however, call for strong consultation with local voices on the issue, with an eye toward improving services, efficiency and business development.
“There are a number of ways to achieve these goals and we expect that local voices and local solutions will truly be considered,” reads the statement. “We will work together to ensure that Niagara is given an opportunity to present made-in-Niagara solutions.”
The chamber of commerce survey can be found at www.gncc.ca.
It asks questions relating to your perceived priorities for municipal government and possible impacts of amalgamation.