While the cities of Mississauga, Brampton and town of Caledon prepare to leave Peel Region in less than two years, the mayor of Markham wants all the municipalities in York Region to come together to form one big city.

Frank Scarpitti made his formal request in a letter to the Ford government.

”The provincial government has taken bold steps restructuring the City of Toronto Council and Peel Region and should be doing the same in York Region,” the mayor writes.

”There is no rationale for taking bold steps in other GTA cities and keeping the status quo in York Region.”

York is currently made up of Markham, Aurora, East Gwillimbury,  Georgina, King Township, Richmond HIll, Vaughan and Whitchurch-Stouffville.

There’s also a regional government.

That’s 77 municipal representatives for about 1.2-million residents, while Scarpitti points out Toronto has 26 councillors; including the mayor, for about 3-million.

The Markham mayor says amalgamation would result in ”significant savings” both in the operating and capital budgets.