Wayne Gates
Special to The Lake Report

Local communities across Niagara have pushed back against Doug Ford’s government proposals for municipal amalgamation. It was a dangerous scheme that risked increased taxes and fewer services.

But now we should also be equally wary of rubber-stamping Doug Ford’s plan for weighted voting at the Niagara Region that may erode unique and culturally significant municipalities like Niagara-on-the-Lake of their local decision-making power.

While Premier Ford and his supporters have framed governance reform as a way to reduce the number of local elected officials, we’ve already seen that amalgamation isn’t necessary to achieve that goal. Niagara-on-the-Lake voted to reduce the size of its own town council from eight councillors to six.

It was a victory for communities in Niagara to stop forced amalgamation. Niagara’s biggest victories happen when we work together.

While we do sometimes see individuals taking credit for local accomplishments of other levels of government, in my experience, the credit always belongs to the many that worked together.

I firmly believe that our job as elected officials is to work with anyone willing to help our community, but it is equally important if you want to celebrate the good initiatives, you also have to be a strong voice when it comes to standing up against the bad ones.

Take the elimination of the 6.1 per cent tax on Ontario VQA wines. Starting in 2018, I introduced legislation four separate times to eliminate this unfair tax on our local wineries, and my first bill passed second reading with Liberal and Conservative support. We kept working alongside local grape growers, winery owners and municipal leaders until the government removed the tax in 2024.

The same is true of the $35 million provincial investment in the Shaw Festival’s Royal George Theatre. We raised the Shaw’s funding needs in committee in January 2024, and we urged the minister to support the project again and again. The Shaw, local businesses, donors and municipal representatives were making the case too.

Nevertheless, working with the provincial government to secure investments for Niagara-on-the-Lake can not mean supporting every proposal. In previous Ontario amalgamations, municipalities experienced significant tax increases despite the empty promise of cost savings

Now, more than ever, the fight to protect local decision-making is far from over. Bill 100 opens the door to appointed chairs and weighted voting that may be unfair. I don’t support it, and Niagara-on-the-Lake needs elected leaders who oppose provincial top-down amalgamation schemes designed to erode local decision-making authority, increase property taxes, and compromise services.

There is nothing wrong with sharing credit for local successes by working with all levels of government, but it must also mean showing independence to stand up when provincial policy threatens to respect our community and its unique character. Protecting local decision-making requires both.

Wayne Gates is the member of provincial parliament for the Niagara Falls riding.