PROVINCE TO REVIEW REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS, INCLUDING DURHAM, HALTON, PEEL, YORK
Jan 15, 2019
By Bob Komsic
Share on
The Ford government is not stopping at Toronto city hall.
After unilaterally reducing the size of Toronto city council nearly in half last year, the province has announced it will review regional governments in eight municipalities, including those surrounding Toronto.
In announcing the review, Queen’s Park says it wants to ensure regional governments are working ”efficiently and effectively”.
Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark says in a statement that the aim is to make better use of taxpayer money and make it easier for people and businesses to access services.
Michael Fenn, a deputy minister and founding CEO of regional transportation agency Metrolinx and Ken Seiling, recently retired chair of Waterloo Region, are to make recommendations to the province by early summer.
They will review the governments of Durham, Halton, Peel, York, Waterloo, Niagara, Muskoka District, Oxford County, the County of Simcoe and their lower-tier municipalities.
One of the questions that’ll be considered is whether two-tier structures are appropriate for all of the municipalities.
In 1997, the province eliminated Metropolitan Toronto and amalgamated Toronto with Scarborough, North York, East York, Etobicoke and city of York.