Province to name facilitator for Region of Waterloo by Sept. 11: Minister

Regional facilitators, who will assess upper-tier municipalities in Ontario including the Region of Waterloo, will be named by Sept. 11, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark said Tuesday.

Clark made the announcement during a speech at the annual conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, being held in London this year.

"We are working closely with our municipal partners to ensure they have the tools they need to meet their housing targets and will keep fighting to reach our goal of 1.5 million homes by 2031," Clark said in a release.

The facilitators will review six municipalities:

• Waterloo.
• Halton.
• Niagara.
• Simcoe.
• Durham.
• York.

In May, the province announced plans to dissolve the Region of Peel by 2025.

The move is not a surprise. Clark introduced legislation in November 2022 called the Better Municipal Governance Act and said that the government would appoint facilitators to ensure the regions were ready to "deliver on the government's commitment to tackle the housing supply crisis."

Clark was in Kitchener in May and was asked when a facilitator would be named. He did not provide a timeline but said "it's not something we're going to be spending a lot of time navel gazing, we need to have some action pretty quickly."

'Stronger together'

Regional Chair Karen Redman has previously said she believes the region, the cities and townships have a "strong history of collaboration."

In an emailed statement Tuesday, Redman reiterated that the community "has been clear" that "we are stronger together."

"We have an important story to tell in Waterloo Region around collaboration and past successes, but we also need to be bold and aggressive in addressing our future growth. I look forward to working with the provincial facilitator and Ontario Government to drive efficiencies, build more homes and create a stronger community," Redman said.

In June, six regional councillors held a media conference to say they felt like a one-tiered government was appropriate for the Region of Waterloo. The group included regional councillors Rob Deutschmann, Jim Erb, Michael Harris, Chantal Huinink, Colleen James and Kari Williams.

"We all believe that we're stronger together and that's why we're here today to communicate our position directly to our community that we represent, but also to the province," Coun. Harris said during the press conference.

"I know this conversation will likely be somewhat divisive. We understand and read what's happening in Peel right now."

Meanwhile in Cambridge, city Coun. Nicholas Ermeta says he welcomes the review by the province and he would like to see his city separate from the region and become its own municipality.