York Region governance up in air as Ontario announces municipal review

Thestar.com
Jan 15, 2019
Lisa Queen

When Premier Doug Ford abruptly scrapped the election of regional chairs in York Region and three other communities last July, he casually signalled the move was part of a larger plan to review municipal governments.

That plan is now beginning to take shape, as the provincial government announced on Jan. 15 a review of regional governments, which have been in place for about 50 years.

Asked about the province’s announcement that it would review the role of regional governments in Ontario, Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti said, “I don’t think it comes as any surprise.”

The province will begin consulting local residents and businesses this spring. It has appointed special advisers Michael Fenn and Ken Seiling to conduct the reviews.

With 10 municipal governments -- the Region of York and the towns, township and cities of Georgina, East Gwillimbury, Newmarket, Aurora, King, Whitchurch-Stouffville, Richmond Hill, Vaughan and Markham -- York Region could be an area where the Progressive Conservative government is looking to make changes.

GTA mayors learned of the review at a meeting to discuss other matters -- marijuana legalization, transportation and safety -- in Toronto on Tuesday afternoon.

“I don’t think it comes as any surprise,” Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti said.

He suggested drastic changes to the current model could force early municipal elections.

“Depending where the consultation ends up, depending on what their recommendation is ultimately, I’ll be bold enough to suggest they may have to relook at the mandate of our current councils,” Scarpitti said. “We have gridlock on our roads. we’ll have gridlock in our government ... You’ll have budgets that won’t make sense, you’ll have decisions that won’t make sense.”

Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua didn’t dispute the need for a review, but said any change must be “thoughtful” and provide clear advantages over the existing model.

“I think everybody ought to be very patient. We have a number of days to consult, people will be reaching out to the City of Vaughan and other cities and towns, of course,” Bevilacqua said. “But nobody should jump to conclusions, nor should they believe it can be a cookie-cutter approach to municipal governance because, at the end of the day, there are different realities depending upon the regions in the province of Ontario that require a different response.”

“The writing was on the wall,” said Whitchurch-Stouffville Mayor Iain Lovatt, Tuesday afternoon.

“The province has developed and come out with a mandate of reducing costs of government and the size of government. We’re going to be going to be an active participant in the process.”

Wayne Emmerson acknowledged pending changes to York’s structure when he was acclaimed as York Region’s chair last month.

“I feel the province will make changes to our region and local communities,” he said.

“All I ask is that we are at the table so we can be part of the decision-making process. We are part of the solution, not part of the problem.”

This isn’t the first time the province has indicated it could change the structure of regional and local governments.

There were many meetings and reports on the issue 20 years ago, with the province ultimately settling to amalgamate Metro Toronto’s six municipalities into the single City of Toronto, leaving other GTA regions alone. Several other municipalities outside the GTA were also amalgamated.

In 2016, Markham Coun. Jim Jones suggested amalgamating Markham, Richmond Hill and Vaughan.

Meanwhile, the region’s six northern municipalities, known as the N6, have joined together to provide joint services such as garbage collection and animal control.