Former Waterloo Region chair Ken Seiling to help lead review of regional governments

Thestar.com
Jan 15, 2019
Jeff Outhit

The Ontario government announced Tuesday it is reviewing nine regional or county governments and 73 municipalities within them in a bid to save costs.

This includes the Region of Waterloo, the cities of Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo, and the townships of North Dumfries, Wilmot, Woolwich and Wellesley.

Municipal Affairs Minister Steven Clark has tapped Ken Seiling, the veteran municipal leader, to help recommend ways to improve governance, decision-making and service delivery that may include amalgamations.

“There have been no parameters drawn around this,” Seiling said. “There’s been no agenda set out for us other than to come back with a good report.”

Questions Seiling will help answer include: are two-tier structures appropriate? Are activities duplicated? Can services be allocated better? Joining him to make recommendations is Michael Fenn, a former deputy minister and CAO of Hamilton-Wentworth region.

The review meets an earlier pledge made after Doug Ford slashed Toronto council almost by half, arguing that fewer politicians will save costs and improve city hall.

 “It will be a fairly quick review,” said Seiling. Consultations will be this spring to make recommendations this summer. “If there are going to be any kind of changes made, the government needs time to plan for them.”

Seiling chaired Waterloo regional government for 33 years before retiring in October.

Seiling has long favoured strengthening regional government or moving toward a single city. He has also cautioned against entering into bruising reform debates without a provincial commitment to act.

“I go into this with no pre-set views,” he said. “I want to hear what people have to say. I think quite frankly there’s lots of differences across the province ... I think at the end of the day, the measure has to be good governance.”

Local politicians hailed Seiling’s role. They said this region and its eight councils are part of a government system that works well.

“Waterloo is a great city that operates effectively, is one of the best-known cities in all of Canada. And we’re doing well as is, so why mess with that success?” Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky said.

“I feel it’s too early to speculate,” said Cambridge Mayor Kathryn McGarry, whose city has long opposed amalgamation.

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic supports local councils talking about reforming themselves before reforms are imposed.

“This community has a long history of reinventing itself with innovation and we can do that again as part of this process,” he said. “I’m a strong believer that a proactive, locally-led solution in terms of the governance of this region will result in the best possible outcome.”

Regional Chair Karen Redman said reforms should focus not on the number of local politicians but on the effectiveness of government.

“This isn’t just a math equation. This is absolutely looking at what’s the best outcome for residents,” she said. “It also has to honour community.”

She would not rule out amalgamations. “In order to have a review that you can say is credible, everything has to be on the table.”

Local politicians have battled each other for more than a century over service delivery, council reform and amalgamations.

Two decades ago, former PC premier Mike Harris left this region out of municipal mergers it imposed elsewhere such as Hamilton-Wentworth. Instead, the province partly separated city and regional councils.

Local politicians put transit and garbage under regional control but left water and sewer services split, defying expert advice.

A citizen’s campaign that proposed to make this region into a single city faltered in 2008. In a 2010 referendum, Kitchener voters endorsed merger talks with neighbouring Waterloo, but Waterloo voters rejected talks.

Seiling said his role advising the Ford government came together in the last month. He’ll earn up to $600 a day to a maximum of $36,000.

“It’s actually going to be very challenging,” he said. He expects to meet with the municipal affairs minister Wednesday.

Clark said he wants to cut red tape and duplication, save costs, make it easier for residents and businesses to access government services, and deliver local services more efficiently and effectively.

“Our government (is) committed to improving the way regional government works and we will be looking at ways to make better use of taxpayers’ dollars,” he said in a statement.

Business leader Art Sinclair welcomes the review and said the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce has no position on possible reforms.

“I would say at this point pretty much everything is on the table,” said Sinclair, chamber vice-president.