Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop argues that Niagara Region Chair Bob Gale’s call for governance changes “flies in the face” of a recent regional council directive telling him to hold off on any actions regarding this issue.
On Wednesday, Gale sent a letter to the province requesting Rob Flack, Ontario’s minister of municipal affairs and housing, to introduce governance reforms aimed at significantly cutting down the number of municipal politicians across Niagara.
This new stance also moves away from his earlier suggestion made two weeks prior about merging local municipalities.
The letter was sent after a regional council motion proposed by Redekop and supported by St. Catharines Coun. Laura Ip during a committee-of-the-whole meeting on February 26.
Consequently, the motion won’t be official until it gets ratified at the next full council meeting scheduled for March 26.
“While it may seem that the committee-of-the-whole minutes haven’t been officially approved, the essence of the resolution still exists, along with clear direction for the chair,” Redekop said. “It seems he is either disregarding it or simply choosing not to acknowledge its intent.”
Gale’s most radical proposal would change regional council into a group consisting solely of the regional chair and 12 mayors from Niagara, eliminating the current structure of 31 members – which means there would be no more directly elected regional councillors. Each mayor’s voting power would be adjusted based on their population size.
Overall, Gale’s latest plan seeks to decrease elected officials in Niagara by 35, removing 19 seats from regional council and 16 from lower-tier councils ahead of the municipal elections set for October 26.
The modifications need approval from the governing Progressive Conservatives to pass legislation altering the Municipal Act in provincial legislature sessions resuming on March 23.
A source within the Region indicated that Gale received legal advice stating that council’s cease-and-desist motion doesn’t stop him from addressing this matter. He chose to sign his letter to Flack as a councillor rather than as chair out of respect for what was intended by that motion.
Additionally, Gale’s letter didn’t feature any official letterhead belonging to him as regional chair.
“Maybe he’s trying to avoid utilizing his public office; however, you can’t just act like you’re not the regional chair when you actually are,” Redekop remarked.
Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop claims that Bob Gale’s communication with Ontario’s government contradicts instructions given by regional councilors.
Bob Tymczyszyn/ file photo
Earlier on Wednesday, Redekop along with mayors Terry Ugulini from Thorold, Cheryl Ganann from West Lincoln, Bill Steele from Port Colborne, Jeff Jordan from Grimsby, Marv Junkin from Pelham, Brian Grant from Wainfleet and Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa of Niagara-on-the-Lake collectively reached out to Ontario Premier Doug Ford proposing updates to modernize governance at a regional level while also reducing political overlap before this fall’s elections.
The mayors representing smaller municipalities in Niagara are open to change but emphasize an approach grounded in careful evidence-based processes that maintain local representation and community identity.
Diving into his state-of-the-region address on February 27, Gale stated that his push for reform responds directly to worries about having 126 municipal politicians across 13 municipalities alongside rising taxes and an infrastructure deficit amounting to $2.7 billion.
He had previously suggested either one or four city models for governing Niagara.
This latest proposal has backing from seven mayors who represent areas making up around 74 percent of Niagara’s population; these include Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati along with St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe and Welland Mayor Frank Campion.
Tension arises as three mayors-Junkin , Zalepa , and Grant-are noted as signatories on both letters.
Diodati mentioned he wasn’t approached about signing onto this group letter while adding he thinks having separate letters is “symptomatic” of some underlying issues present within region affairs.
“We’re not even streamlining letters,” Diodati pointed out. “I agree , in principle , with what their letter states. I think several mayors’ presence on both letters reflects our shared acknowledgment we have problems at hand.”
“We all realize there’s an issue; property taxes exceed provincial averages here. We’ve got more (municipal) employees per resident compared with provincial figures too along with higher debt levels than average yet we have greater numbers amongst politicians than what’s typical provincially.. people just see different pathways toward solutions.”
