Residents of Waterloo Region will soon have answers on the future of municipal governance in the area.
On Thursday, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark announced that regional facilitators will be appointed by Sept. 11.
These facilitators are looking into what should happen with the various levels of government in Waterloo, Durham, Halton, Niagara, York and Simcoe County.
“These facilitators will be tasked with assessing local governance structures in these communities to ensure they are prepared to support future growth and meet the needs of their residents, particularly when it comes to building homes and housing-enabling infrastructure,” a release from the province read.
Regional Chair Karen Redman issued a statement later in the day which said she believes it would be better for the region to remain united.
“Our community has been clear since the beginning – we are stronger together,” she said. “We have an important story to tell in Waterloo Region around collaboration and past successes, but we also need to be bold and aggressive in addressing our future growth.
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“I look forward to working with the provincial facilitator and Ontario Government to drive efficiencies, build more homes and create a stronger community.”
Back in May, the province announced it would begin the process of eliminating the Region of Peel, placing the three municipalities it included alone.
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A few weeks later, six regional councilors from Kitchener and Waterloo announced that they were pushing the province to amalgamate the region’s seven cities and townships.
“Waterloo Region has an outdated and cumbersome governance system that gets in the way of us achieving our true potential, and its time for change,” the group said in a letter pleading their case for the unification of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and the four surrounding townships.
The province says that it is not automatic that Waterloo Region would be broken up but the facilitator will also be tasked with finding ways to eliminate anything considered to be holding up developers.
This will not be the first time the Ford government has looked at the municipal structure in Waterloo Region as there was talk they would amalgamate the three cities and four townships into an entity several years back.
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