City and Township Mayors call for new vision for local government

Posted on Thursday January 18, 2024

City and Township Mayors call for new vision for
local government

Working together for more housing, stronger communities in Waterloo Region

 

Waterloo Region – To coincide with today’s meeting of the Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy’s Study on Regional Governance, as overseen by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Mayors of six cities and townships representing almost 80 per cent of the population of Waterloo Region, called for reforms to the current structure of local and regional government.

 

At a media conference held today, which included individual presentations to the provincial standing committee by the Mayors of Cambridge, Kitchener, North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot and Woolwich, Mayors spoke of their unprecedented shared work and unified voice in a common vision on the governance structure best suited for our collective communities in support of building more housing today, for stronger communities tomorrow.

 

Today’s vision recognizes that times have changed since regional governments in Ontario were established and our region must evolve if our local communities are to become an even greater success in the future.  Work to develop this shared vision commenced following the announcement several months ago by the Province to review local and regional service delivery, and City and Township Mayors have been working collaboratively to develop recommendations to support and inform the Province’s consultation process, as it relates to the implementation of Bill 23 and further service delivery adjustments to be considered. Read their full submission

 

City and Township Mayors agree that there are opportunities to improve the way services related to the development, approval and building of housing are delivered.  In presentations being made throughout the day to the provincial committee, Mayors called for the following:

 

  1. Implement the transfer of the regional planning function to local municipalities as prescribed by Bill 23 by the end of the second quarter of 2024. 
  • The goal of these transfers is to remove additional red tape from the process and contribute to the province’s and municipalities’ shared goal of “more homes, faster,” while shaping orderly growth in ways that meet the needs of our communities.

 

  1. Improve service delivery for housing-related infrastructure and other services. 
  • The goal of these recommendations in areas such as roads, transportation, traffic control, bylaw enforcement and other areas is to deliver better service with greater efficiency, enhance local decision-making, and reduce duplication.

 

City and Township Mayors are hoping to achieve the support of the provincial government towards this shared vision in a timely manner and look forward to continue working together, along with their Councils, as well as other municipal and regional partners, to improve the quality and efficiency of our services while also increasing our capacity to build homes faster and continue to lead the province and the country in terms of economic growth.

 

 

Quotes

 

“For approximately the past year, the Mayors and CAOs of the region have been regularly working together on Regional Reform. The province had asked that we, as the Mayors, provide our input into a preferred option, so we set to work. We may all have come to the table from di