Niagara-on-the-Lake council is pushing back against comments from Niagara Regional Chair Bob Gale.
The dispute comes amid ongoing discussions about regional governance and possible amalgamation.
In a now-deleted Facebook post on Thursday, Coun. Erwin Wiens said Gale misrepresented the town’s position by suggesting Niagara-on-the-Lake would support a weighted voting model at regional council — a system that would give larger municipalities greater influence.
This comes after Gale’s latest letter to the province, sent last Wednesday, which puts forth the idea of reducing Niagara Region’s council to 12 members, introducing weighted voting based on municipal population and cutting down some municipalities’ number of councillors.
In contrast to his first letter to the province, sent Feb. 19, Gale’s latest letter doesn’t support merging Niagara’s cities and towns, saying his latest proposal avoids the “disruption” of amalgamation.
In the letter, Gale says his recommendations are supported by seven of the region’s mayors, including Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa — Wiens, however, said in his post that the letter wasn’t “reviewed, discussed or approved by” Zalepa before it was sent.
“The suggestion that NOTL would support a weighted voting model at regional council is deeply concerning,” Wiens said, adding it “undermines the principle that every community deserves a meaningful voice in discussions that affect their residents.”
In an email to The Lake Report, Zalepa said he is “not prepared” to “treat any single piece of correspondence as the definitive blueprint for how reform should unfold” and that “the right place” for ideas like weighted voting is Niagara Region’s governance and service delivery review, launched on Feb. 26.
The town touched on the matter on Tuesday, when the town’s governance working group gave its second update to council during a general committee of the whole meeting.
The group, formed after Gale sent his first letter to the province, is responsible for monitoring any developments related to the regional governance review situation now happening in Niagara.
Chief administrative officer Nick Ruller said it continues to meet frequently and is still waiting for a response from the province to a letter the town sent last Wednesday outlining its opposition to amalgamation.
The letter was sent to Minister of Municipal Affairs Rob Flack and Premier Doug Ford.
The town is also awaiting a response to a March 4 joint letter Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa co-signed with the mayors of seven other municipalities in Niagara.
In the letter, the mayors outline a plan for “modernizing” regional governance, including lowering the number of politicians and shifting regional services down to the municipal level.
Zalepa said in his email that this letter “is where my commitments are clearly stated.”
“I feel like we’re in the bottom of the first inning,” Ruller said at Tuesday’s meeting. “But I think we have a long way to go still.”
Ruller said the town remains open to options that could improve efficiency at Niagara Region, such as new public service boards or municipally controlled corporations, while remaining “clearly” opposed to amalgamation.
He pointed to examples such as library boards and conservation authorities.
Ruller added the town is also preparing in case the province decides to move forward with amalgamation.
The NOTL Residents Association also weighed in with a letter submitted March 7. The group supported the town’s position but raised concerns about a lack of transparency from the provincial government, noting it is concerned that a regional government review conducted in 2019 was never released publicly.
“Without access to the original findings, municipalities and residents are being asked to evaluate structural change without access to the only comprehensive provincial review ever completed.”
Wiens said he was pleased Gale took amalgamation off the table for now, but added the town should remain vigilant while staying open to reforms.
“It might be off the table, but it’s not out of the room,” he said.
