Amalgamation winds may blow this way
As Waterloo Region’s newly elected councils celebrate victory in this week’s municipal elections, they should heed the winds of change blowing from the east.
Whatever issues those winning candidates pushed to be voted in, they could soon have the granddaddy of them all dropped into their laps by Premier Doug Ford’s government at Queen’s Park.
That’s amalgamation.
Many, if not most, local politicians might rather avoid this subject. The blustery Ford could leave them no choice. And if there is, indeed, something resembling a political headwind gusting our way from Toronto, our local political leaders should be ahead of it and fully prepared.
Don’t forget: One of Ford’s earliest acts as premier was to cut the number of Toronto city councillors from 47 to 25. There was no consulting, no negotiating. It was a done deal Ford defended on grounds of efficiency and cost savings. Those who fancy Ford’s austerity plans end at Toronto’s city limits delude themselves. A municipal affairs ministry official, Michael Jiggins, has confirmed the province is conducting a “broad” review of Ontario’s municipal governments.
What that ultimately means is unclear. What’s certain is Ford is determined to whittle down a $15-billion provincial deficit and has a lot of sharp cutting tools at his disposal. The premier has already chopped the previous government’s basic-income pilot project while, just this week, axing the $270 million previously approved for three new university-community college campuses.
At this point, local residents may experience an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu. Somehow, Waterloo Region escaped the sweeping series of municipal amalgamations in the 1990s that were imposed by Mike Harris’ Progressive Conservatives and transformed communities such as Hamilton. Local government was, to be sure, reformed in Waterloo Region back then. But we still have 59 municipal politicians in a mind-numbingly complex, two-tiered system that includes no fewer than eight local governments.
If Ford concluded 47 councillors were too many for Toronto’s 2.7 million residents, how can he fail to notice that this much smaller region of 600,000 citizens is served by far more local politicians?
The good news is that well-managed change, change this community brings about itself, could happen and, as well, make life better for us all. In addition, this week’s municipal elections leave the region as wellpositioned to meet this challenge as anyone could hope. The new regional chair, Karen Redman is a seasoned politician at both municipal and federal levels who’s gifted with enormous negotiating skills.
Cambridge’s new mayor, Kathryn McGarry is a former provincial cabinet minister who’s intimately acquainted with the inner workings of Queen’s Park.
Meanwhile there are two new Waterloo regional councillors, Michael Harris and Jim Erb, who believe this community is ready for a mature discussion about the cost, size and effectiveness of local government.
It’s too early to say where these conversations on local government should go. And it would be wildly premature to conclude there is any one solution we should choose.
But we all know this premier is more than happy to play the disrupter. We know, too, that he has the constitutional powers to make or break any Ontario municipal government he likes.
So yes, this is a time for everyone who was elected in the region this week to savour what they just accomplished.
It is also the time for them to think long and hard about possible municipal government reforms while putting the long-term interests of Waterloo Region ahead of any short-term political ambitions they might harbour.
The winds of change, could in fact, blow for the better.