Local mayors, regional chair react to Ontario plan to give regional chairs and mayors more power

Local leaders and experts are reacting to a new bill introduced Wednesday that could change the way regional and city governments work together.

Ontario's Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark introduced the Better Municipal Governance Act as part of an effort to cut red tape on "shared provincial-municipal priorities."

Robert Williams, professor of political science at the University of Waterloo, said he was surprised to hear about the proposed bill, especially considering the lack of consultation done prior to the announcement.

"The more I think about it, the more agitated I am about what it is saying about duly elected municipal governments," he said.

"It says that somehow, they [municipal government] don't matter and the province is the only one that can make certain kinds of decisions. I find that quite an affront to a very long-standing practice, tradition and arrangement for determining how communities govern themselves."

'Just give us time'

The announcement has also elicited reaction from local elected leaders like Waterloo Mayor Dorothy McCabe, Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett and regional chair Karen Redman.

"The best advice I would give Minister Clark at this point, if I could be so bold, is to say 'just give us some time'. We know there's a housing crisis in Waterloo," she said. "We've got about 21,000 housing units in the pipeline so let us make sure we have the time we need to make sure that this legislation is appropriate, that it will serve our communities appropriately, and that we will get the housing we need built in the areas that we need them," McCabe said.

Vrbanovic said he has some concerns also shared by other big city mayors.

"For example, on the issue of development charges, the premise has always been that 'growth pays for growth," he said.

"While it make sense to remove those charges from affordable housing, the question remains, how will those dollars be made up for in terms of ensuring that we can still build the parks, the community centres, the libraries, the swimming pools that we know are so important in our communities going forward."

'Every municipality is different'

Liggett said she is worried about losing the focus on Cambridge's individual needs.

"Every municipality is different in terms of needs," she said. "But we can't really come out and say anything yet because we don't have that information. We don't know who the facilitator is supposed to be for the region right now. We don't know whether we're going to have the same powers they've given the mayors of Ottawa and Toronto."

Redman said she hopes each region will get its own facilitator.

"I think you can't assume a remedy will work in Peel, Durham or York and necessarily work exactly the same way in the Region of Waterloo. We've got a track record of being successful and we can stand on that as we move forward."