‘We should push back’: Redekop motion opposes governance changes

Fort Erie councillors have supported their mayor and lent their unanimous support to oppose planned governance changes for several regions of the province, including Niagara.

A motion put forward by Wayne Redekop at the April 13 council meeting largely echoed previous comments he’s made on reforming Niagara’s two-tiered municipal government system and, more recently, the decision from Queen’s Park to restructure regional municipalities in Niagara, Waterloo, Simcoe County and others.

His motion calls on the province to give further thought to some aspects of the Better Regional Governance Act, and outright reconsider others.

“I think it’s important for us to push back, if we value our democracy we should push back,” he said on Monday night.

Redekop’s motion includes a lengthy preamble that talks about Canada’s strong and stable democracy, and some of the hallmarks of that democratic system. Some of the proposed changes, he argues, go against that democratic foundation.

Chief among his concerns is the plan to bestow so-called strong chair powers, similar to the strong mayor powers Premier Doug Ford has given most mayors in the province, to appointed regional chairs.

His motion requests the premier and Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack “remove from the pending legislation any provision that grants to an appointed regional chair and county warden extraordinary (‘strong’) powers, including the power to veto decisions made by the majority of the popularly elected mayors or members of those regional or county councils.”

Going even further, it requests the province reconsider the plan to appoint chairs in favour of a directly elected chair.

It also asks for more consideration, and public consultation, to be given to a weighted voting process. With Niagara’s regional council moving to a 13-member system–made up of the region’s 12 mayors and one appointed chair–some kind of weighting system is proposed where the St. Catharines mayor’s vote could count for more than, say, Wainfleet or Fort Erie.

The potential for the mayor of one of the region’s larger cities to be ideologically aligned with the appointed chair is something that scares Councillor Nick Dubanow.

“That should frighten every single resident in the region,” he said. With a weighted voting system and a two thirds vote required to overturn a “strong” chair decision, Dubanow suggested a single mayor and unelected chair could dominate the decision making process.

Despite the fears and opposition, councillors around the Fort Erie horseshoe didn’t seem willing to throw in the towel.

“It’s not over,” Dubanow said, adding they can continue to share their concerns with provincial counterparts, push for change at events like the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference, and ultimately make their voices heard at the ballot boxes in a few years.

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