Ford government supportive of Niagara amalgamation, hoping for local plan

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says any amalgamation of local councils in Niagara Region would have to come from a local proposal and have substantial support for it to move ahead.

The possibility of reducing the size of the local governments was raised after a new provincial appointee to the Regional Municipality of Niagara, Bob Gale, complained about the current structure and costs.

The regional municipality has a two-tier governance structure with an upper-tier government as well as 12 lower-tier municipalities with 126 councillors.

Ford was in Niagara at an unrelated event on Wednesday and addressed the idea, saying he would be open to it but didn’t want to see the province lead the process.

“It has to be from Niagara by Niagara, it has to have approvals from the majority of mayors, it has to have approval from the majority of the elected officials,” Ford said.

“I’m going to look at their proposal — it has to be led by Niagara, simple as that. If it’s not led by Niagara then we move on, and I guess the people of Niagara are going to have to pay double-digit tax increases for quite some time.”

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Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati, an ally of Premier Ford, said he was in favour of amalgamating the region into four cities, and said he didn’t support the two-tier system. Fort Erie’s mayor, Wayne Redekop, said the town wasn’t in favour.

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The debate was sparked by Gale’s letter to the province. He was appointed to his role as chair in December by Municipal Affairs Minister Rob Flack, to whom he recently wrote.

“This governance structure has resulted in a decision-making process that has led to successive tax increases of roughly 7 per cent, 9.6 per cent, and 6.3 per cent over the past three years, driving the regional tax levy up by almost 25 per cent over a single council term,” Gale’s letter said.

“This is an egregious affront to Niagara taxpayers and is not sustainable.”

Gale has proposed reducing the number of councillors and restructuring the region, “including potential amalgamations.”

— with files from The Canadian Press

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