After facing a barrage of backlash from politicians and residents across Niagara who rejected the idea of forcing the region’s cities and towns to amalgamate, Niagara Regional Chair Bob Gale has gone back to the province with more ideas for changing regional governance — which could see Niagara-on-the-Lake’s representation at the regional table shrink to one vote.
In a letter to Municipal Affairs Minister Rob Flack on Wednesday, Gale puts forth that starting this fall, with each municipality’s next terms, Niagara Region should be reduced to 12 regional councillors, down from 32, introduced weighted voting based on the population of each municipality, cut down every municpalities’ number of councillors and sharing services across the region.
In the letter, Gale says his recommendations are supported by seven of the region’s mayors, including Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa — however, Coun. Erwin Wiens shared online Thursday that his letter was not “reviewed, discussed or approved by” the lord mayor or council before it was sent.
This latest correspondence with the province comes after Gale floated the ideal of amalgamating the Niagara region into either one or four cities in a letter to Flack on Feb. 19. To NOTL council last week, he cited concerns about Niagara Region’s “broken” governance, including regional tax increases and a $2.7-billion shortfall in infrastructure projects.
The reduction in regional councillors would mean only the region’s 12 mayors would get a seat at the regional table, plus the regional chair. Right now, NOTL is represented by two people at Niagara Region: Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa and Regional Coun. Andrea Kaiser.
Each mayors’ vote would be weighted according to the size of their city or town per each 15,000 residents — meaning a city of 100,000 residents would get six votes, while a town with 6,000 residents would get one vote.
This means NOTL, which has a population of a little more than 19,000 people, would get one vote at Niagara Region. The biggest city in the region, St. Catharines, has an estimated population of 136,803 people, according to Gale’s letter — it would get eight votes.
In his online statement, Wiens said the suggestion that NOTL would support weighted voting at regional council is “deeply concerning.”
“A system that effectively allows larger municipalities to control outcomes at the regional table undermines the principle that every community deserves a meaningful voice in decisions that affect their residents,” he writes.
He added that the Town of NOTL provided it own submission to the province on regional governance and that the position outlined in Gale’s letter “does not accurately reflect the town’s position.”
On Wednesday, the Town of NOTL submitted its feedback on the prospect of amalgamation to the province, taking a stance against forcibly merging NOTL with other cities and towns in Niagara and arguing that the municipality is in good place and can stand on its own.
Gale also proposes cutting NOTL’s council down to six members, plus the lord mayor, meaning two fewer councillors representing the municipality’s residents in town hall.
He proposes no cuts for St. Catharines and Niagara Falls’ councils, which he said will have their current numbers, 12 and eight, respectively.
Gale briefly acknowledged the negative feedback to his amalgamation push in his latest letter to Flack: “While I heard criticism with the initial lack of advance consultation, it was widely acknowledged that the current structure of 126 municipally elected official across municipalities and 31 members of regional council is not as lean, efficient or affordable as it should be.”
He said his latest recommendation avoids “the disruption and risk of full amalgamation at this time,” “strikes a pragmatic balance” between fiscal responsibility democratic representation and local autonomy and will get more support across Niagara than “any immediate move to full amalgamation.”
