Council to prep for provincial facilitators
St. Catharines city council is planning to relaunch a governance review group in preparation for the province’s dive into Niagara’s political structure.
Grantham Coun. Dawn Dodge asked during a meeting this week that the city re-establish a task force, last struck in 2019, so the city is ready when facilitators are appointed by Queen’s Park.
“We’re a new council and it’s been some time since this was all discussed, so I think it’s important we’re all on the same page and understand what’s going to take place,” Dodge said in an interview this week.
Council is expected to discuss task force details at a meeting this month.
In November, the province introduced Bill 39 — the Better Governance Act, which will see provincial facilitators appointed to six regions, including Niagara, to determine the best way to extend strong mayor powers in two-tier municipalities.
The facilitators will “assess the best mix of roles and responsibilities” between upper- and lowertier municipalities with the aim of ensuring the regions are able to deliver on the government’s commitment to build more housing — 1.5 million new homes by 2031.
Dodge, the city’s representative at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, said other communities are preparing for the process with the facilitators so that when they meet they have a better understanding of the issues and can talk about the items they think are important.
The province has not released a timeline for its facilitator process.
Minister of municipal affairs and housing spokesperson Victoria Podbielski said in an email Wednesday the ministry will have more to say on next steps in the near future.
Niagara Region Chair Jim Bradley
confirmed his office hasn’t been provided with any additional information on the status of the facilitator since what was made public late last year.
The Region doesn’t have any motions on its agenda to establish a governance committee. Bradley said in an email it’s his understanding the province is “singularly focused” on building more homes and ensuring there is the needed infrastructure to service them.
“The only governance item that I am currently aware of concerns the exploration of expanding so-called strong mayor
powers to regional chairs,” he wrote.
“Given the limited information that has been provided to us by the provincial government to date, I would be cautious of establishing committees that may presuppose the intent of the minister and his facilitator.”
Bradley said he’s committed to ensuring council and the public are kept as informed and involved as possible as the process plays out.
St. Catharines previously struck a governance review task force chaired by St. Andrew’s Coun. Joe Kushner after the province announced in 2019 it would review eight regional municipalities to look at ways
to “cut red tape and duplication” and save costs.
The task force of five councillors held a public meeting at city hall and an online survey to get residents’ feedback. The resulting task force report, sent by city council to the province, backed the current system of regional and municipal government, finding people were generally satisfied with the present system of governance and it would be too difficult and costly to dismantle the two-tier system.