Should Ontario dissolve York Region like it's doing with Peel? Or amalgamate? Or stay the same? Experts weigh in

Ontario government is dissolving Peel, now turns its sights on York, Durham, Halton, Niagara, Simcoe, Waterloo

Yorkregion.com
June 15, 2023
Kim Zarzour

Can we unscramble the egg?

Do we even want to?

When the Ontario government announced this month that Peel Region would be “dissolved” into several smaller municipalities, eyes turned to York Region -- among those next on the province's list.

Like Peel, York is a two-tier municipality, with Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Whitchurch-Stouffville, Aurora, King, Newmarket, East Gwillimbury and Georgina at the lower level.

At the upper level, York oversees services crossing the entire region, including water, sewer, police, social services, health, housing and waste.

But not everyone thinks breaking up the region, similar to Peel, is best for York.

Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti released a statement June 14 calling on the province to consolidate municipalities instead, saying "streamlining" into one city would result in significant savings.

Regional chairperson Wayne Emmerson believes things are fine as they stand.

While he welcomes the opportunity to discuss York’s structure with the provincially appointed facilitator, Emmerson says, “right now, all nine municipalities work well together.”

YorkRegion.com asked five experts what they think.

Most agree: the Peel approach is not suited for York.

Robert Williams, retired University of Waterloo political science professor

A two-tier system still has a place, Williams said, adding there are features that could be improved without demolishing the entire structure.

"In York Region, Markham and Vaughan, probably Richmond Hill, could possibly operate as independent, single-tier governments, but that still leaves the rest of the region. King Township or Georgina is not ready for that.

"And a municipality like Vaughan, with its scattered clusters of settlements like Thornhill, Woodbridge, Maple, is not a single place yet, so, on the political side, it would still be complicated.

"Once you’ve had a structure of this sort for about 50 years, with shared services, built infrastructure, can you actually unscramble the egg? ... I just don’t see how that’s an easy process."

John Vickers, former York Region resident and governance consultant

Dissolving York Region would be costly, complicated, and not in keeping with Canadians’ "co-operative" nature, he said.

Giving municipalities independence is "more of a rah-rah, rallying cry than reality," he said.

"Everybody has their own agenda and wants to control the resources they have. However, there are lots of times when a governing structure in an amalgamated or co-ordinated way is much more beneficial to the overall population.

"You want to make sure the world you envision when the dust settles is one that isn’t straddled with 30 years of debt and less delivery of services."

Fred Cox, former Markham deputy mayor who chaired York Region’s 1995 governance review committee

"In my opinion, they’ve got it all backwards," he said.

Cox supports Scarpitti's idea, floated 20 years ago: amalgamating York's municipalities into one city.

With one level of government, one city hall, fire department, etc., Cox believes taxes could be cut in half.

"Unfortunately, the mayors and regional councillors 20 years ago were concerned about their jobs and they voted against the idea."

Helena Jaczek, Markham-Stouffville MP and regional governance review project manager

The rationale for dissolving Peel was clear, with cities such as Mississauga and Brampton having the populations and relatively compact geographic areas to stand alone, Jaczek said.

That’s not the case in York, which was formed so smaller municipalities could share "big services".

York’s grown since then, especially in the south, but Jaczek believes the situation continues to work "cordially and efficiently" and brings a powerful voice to the provincial table.

Besides, she adds, the decision to break up should come from the local level and, if there’s concern a new structure might be imposed by the province, it'd be wise for municipalities to evaluate the situation themselves, first.

Enid Slack, University of Toronto municipal finance expert

The province restructuring Peel opens the door to reconsidering regional governance for the whole GTA, she said.

The last major review was in 1996 with the Golden Report, when a greater Toronto council, a level of government that covers the entire area, crossing municipal boundaries, was suggested.

But at the moment, Slack believes two-tiers work well because the regions can benefit from economies of scale. At the same time, there's more local responsiveness and accountability from municipalities closer to people for services that can be delivered at that level.