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Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra has written to the Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy to request that they consider taking on the work of assessing regional government structures in Durham, Halton, Niagara, Simcoe, Waterloo and York.
Back in November 2022, former Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark announced that he would appoint facilitators to review the six regional municipalities, and in May 2023, the province announced plans to dissolve the Region of Peel.
At the 2023 AMO Conference, Minister Clark announced that he would appoint the facilitators by September 11th. On September 11th, Minister Calandra announced that he was reviewing the previously stated intention to appoint facilitators to assess the regional governments and that the ministry would provide an update by the end of September.
In his September 13th letter to the Committee, Minister Calandra asks for consideration of the following questions:
- Is two-tier government in these regions supporting or hindering the construction of new homes and the provision of effective local governance more generally?
- Are there responsibilities and services that could be combined, amended or moved from one level of local government to another, or combined among existing local governments, to support the construction of new homes and the provision of effective local governance more generally?
- Is the municipal governance structure within each of these regions supporting the construction of new homes and the provision of effective local governance more generally?
- Could any changes to regional governance enhance local services and/or provide better value to taxpayers?
We will continue to monitor the progress of this regional review.