While Toronto dukes it out with the Ford government about how their city should be governed, it looks like we could be facing a Bay area battle of our own.
Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring has asked the Ford government to make Waterdown part of Burlington to help alleviate Burlington’s intensification and density problems.
It’s no secret that Burlington is running out of space for commercial and residential growth and plans for high rise intensification in their downtown are meeting with stiff resistance from local residents.
Nonetheless, it was surprising when Goldring said that he’s already had discussions with Ford’s government about annexing Waterdown and that they seemed receptive to the idea.
Of course, Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger is outraged by the idea, suggesting that maybe Hamilton should just annex all of Burlington instead.
Clearly, this has the potential to become a nasty battle.
It’s not the first time that a Burlington-Waterdown marriage has been considered.
When regional government was imposed by the province back in the 1970s, and of course during the heated debate about amalgamation almost 20 years ago, the idea was floated, but never adopted.
This latest proposal is sure to stoke the flames of discontent among Waterdown residents who were dragged kicking and screaming into the shotgun marriage with Hamilton with amalgamation, but, would the Ford government actually consider such a radical move?
Given what they’ve tried to do to Toronto city council, anything is possible.
Bill Kelly is the host of the Bill Kelly Show on Global News Radio 900 CHML