Petition demands chair election be restored

Niagarans were ready to cast their vote for their regional chair in the upcoming municipal election.

At least that’s how Karrie Porter sees it. That’s why the candidate for St. Catharines city council in Ward 4, St. Patrick’s, launched a petition last Friday in the wake of Premier Doug Ford’s abrupt announcement that residents will no longer be directly electing their regional chair in Niagara, York and Peel regions in October.

“I didn’t see this coming. I don’t think anyone saw this coming,” said Porter. “It seems to me that the public, the people in Niagara, were in favour of directly electing the chair.”

She said it’s “outrageous” that Ford’s announcement could come on the final day nomination registrations were being accepted.

Stripping the electorate’s right to vote for a regional chair in

Niagara, in the middle of an election campaign, without notice or consultation is an affront to local democracy, she said.

“We were blindsided in Niagara.” She was on her way home from a family trip to Cape Breton, N.S., when she read the news on Twitter. Porter accessed her campaign website from her car and quickly put up the petition. Within an hour, the petition calling on Queen’s Park to “defend democracy in Niagara” had already received more than 100 signatures.

By Wednesday, there were close to 500 signatures.

“I felt like I had to do something, as a first step,” she said.

The petition will be given to St. Catharines MPP Jennie Stevens and Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch.