UP FRONT WITH THE MAYOR: Let's not go down 'black hole' of re-inventing regional government

If a provincial facilitator can quickly find efficiencies, great, otherwise let's focus on challenges like building more housing and housing affordability, Mayor John Taylor says in his monthly column

Newmarkettoday.ca
July 10, 2023

Newmarket Mayor John Taylor suggests "a radical alternative" to regional government reform -- the status quo -- as his regular monthly opinion column returns to NewmarketToday. As always, he welcomes your questions and comments.

The provincial government will soon appoint a facilitator to review York Region government. This has led some elected officials across the region to support the philosophy that we had better propose something dramatic before they -- the province -- propose it for us.

Some have recommended making all York Region municipalities one mega city, while others have proposed eliminating regional government and having only lower-tier towns and cities, but still sharing services across the region, like policing and paramedics -- which sounds a lot like regional government!

I would like to propose a radical alternative -- the system we have now works very well. There, I said it, I support the status quo. Sorry if that is boring but reinventing local government is not needed, not a priority of anyone’s, and has rarely worked well in the past.

I would also like to point out that the region is home to some extraordinarily dedicated and passionate staff members doing work that improves our lives each day. Having said that, I am more than happy to work with a provincial facilitator to explore (quickly) the opportunities to be more efficient and avoid duplication. What I do not support is spending the next two years trying to dismantle regional government and another two years trying to replace it with a coincidentally similar replica.

Our communities want us to focus on the significant challenges we face: housing and housing affordability, homelessness, climate change, economic development, transportation and gridlock, to name a few. As a mayor, I can assure you I have a limited number of hours in a day or a week and I can’t get to all of the pressing issues I need to now. Adding a complete reinvention of regional government will be a significant distraction.

If we all agree we need more housing and affordable housing, I would suggest we focus on that significant challenge and avoid going down the black hole of reinventing regional government.