Could Dufferin County be a municipal dumping ground for province’s review of regional governments?

Thestar.com
Jan 16, 2019
Chris Halliday

The fear Dufferin County could serve as a dumping ground for any municipal “bits and pieces” left without a home following a provincial restructuring of regional governance across Ontario is real.

Among the 82 municipalities and nine regional governments Premier Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservative regime seek to review for greater efficiencies are Dufferin’s municipal neighbours in Peel Region and Simcoe County.

“Amalgamation hasn’t shown any of the results that have been promised over the years,” says Darren White, the Melancthon mayor who also serves as warden of Dufferin County.

While some may have let out a sigh of relief to notice Dufferin County left off that list, others are left wondering whether it feels like the county has already been predestined as a dumping ground for any municipal loose ends created by the review at Queen’s Park?

“It does but nobody seems to know what. Everybody is very tight-lipped at the province. I don’t know that us being pushed into an alliance with other bits and pieces would work very well either,” said Dufferin County Warden Darren White.

“That is a concern,” he added. “People are naturally worried about that and I think rightly so, because amalgamation hasn’t shown any of the results that have been promised over the years.”

In a four-part series produced in December by the Orangeville Banner and Caledon Enterprise, the newspapers sought to answer one hypothetical question: would it make sense for Caledon and Dufferin County to amalgamate?

Our final answer: “It’s complicated,” but it’d most certainly have to be brought down from on high by the province. And it’d be far more likely if Peel were to be restructured. That possibility has been made even more real by Tuesday’s announcement.

“Amalgamation disproportionately affects rural areas. It leads to cuts in services and therefore the disenfranchisement of rural residents,” White argued. “For an area like Dufferin where the largest economic sector is agriculture, that would be a tragedy.”

Uncertainly in Peel Region, namely due to Mississauga’s wish to break away from Brampton and Caledon to become a single-tier government, is the X-factor though. If Caledon, Brampton and Mississauga can’t resolve any differences, provincial officials have told Peel politicians a merger of the last two into a single city could be contemplated.

“Then the question is, does Caledon stay in that new city?” Caledon Coun. Ian Sinclair previously asked. “Or do we take everything, Mayfield, north and join with the greater Dufferin?”

MPP Sylvia Jones declined to be interviewed for our investigative series, but she did provide us with a brief statement answering a question we had not yet been able to ask. “I’m not aware of any conversations about amalgamation,” it read.

Following the province’s announcement on Tuesday, The Banner reached out to Jones to request another interview on the topic. We were provided with the following statement on Wednesday morning.

“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 and make it easier for residents and businesses to access important municipal services,” the statement read.

“The review will consider whether changes are needed to ensure that regional governments are working efficiently and effectively so they can continue to provide the vital services that communities depend on.”

It was no secret that Ford’s PCs planned to review regional governance across Ontario. With the current model in place for 50 years, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing says populations have grown, infrastructure pressures have increased and taxpayer dollars are being stretched to the limit.

“(We) will be seeking more municipal input to help us ensure that regional government is working harder, smarter and more efficiently,” said ministry spokesperson Rachel Widakdo. “It’s time to consider whether governance in these communities could be improved.”

The cost-savings-through-amalgamation argument tends to focus on eliminating unnecessary politician and staff salaries. By creating a larger service provider, studies have shown municipalities often need to hire more expertise once they’ve become larger.

White figures Dufferin County left off the province’s list due to its size. For instance, he said Simcoe County has a “gigantic” regional government compared to Dufferin.

“Ours aren’t gigantic. We have a lot of people but it doesn’t cost a lot of money. People seem to think, even locally, that local politicians are making a pile of money and we are just not,” White said.

“It just doesn’t work,” he said, referring to amalgamations. “If you look at other places that have amalgamated, what you will see is sure, they’ve gotten rid of some politicians but they’ve had to replace low paid politicians with high-paid bureaucrats.”

From White’s perspective, local governments can make better decisions than outsiders pushing it down their throats. Time will only tell if the province provides them with that autonomy.

“We can do it better here if we’re just left to manage our own affairs,” White argued. “If we are expected to create our own solutions, we can do that much better than an outside force can impose on us.”