Niagara, Ontario Needs To Deal With Governance Reform – Now!

By Doug Draper

Let the discussions over possible changes to the way Niagara, Ontario residents are governed at the municipal level begin – and let them begin NOW!

David Siegel speaks to Niagara, Ontario regional council about governance reform. Photo by Doug Draper

“You have over two years until the next municipal election, which may seem like a long time, but it is not,” David Siegel told Niagara’s regional councillors on July 26. “I think the timeline is to get started tomorrow.

Siegel is a longtime political science professor at Brock University, a respected expert on municipal governance across Ontario and is now the director of the Niagara Community Observatory that functions as a think tank for issues of concern to our greater Niagara region and is based at Brock. He has been invited by the regional government to provide them with some guidance as they navigate through what some consider treacherous waters – municipal governance reform that might to anything up to more amalgamation of services like public transit, and might even involve a fulsome debate on the amalgamation of local municipalities into fewer corporate entities or even one Region of Niagara. 

Siegal hardly  steered close to the rocky shoals of addressing what still seems to be, for many of the most  most xenophobic or parochial politicians n Niagara, the radioactive issue of amalgamating municipalities durng his presentation this July 26. But he did urge regional councillors, including Niagara’s 12 local mayors, to get going soon on debating some kind of governance reform in Niagara, if there is ever a chance that it might  be something Niagara residents might vote on is ever going to be any reform here at all.

What Siegel did say is that regional councillors should immediately begin to tackle the issue of any kind of governance reform in Niagara – -whether that mean which level of municipal government deliver services or how many politicians sit on councils, etc. – if they want to make some changes before the next municipal electons in the fall of 2014.

David Siegel

Siegel’s message to regional councillors this time out was to consider the problems municipal governors face first before coming up with any solutions.  He threw out a host of problems regional councillors may want to consider, although there may be more or less problems the council may want to consinder in its view, he said. 

Those problems for Niagara, Ontario regional government, as listed by David Siegel,  include;

“Is there adequate constructive citizen engagement?

“Do residents understand the system of governance in Niagara?

“Does the current system of representation provide for proper democracy and service delivery? 

“Is there adequate communication and coordiatino between the regional and area municipalities and among area municipalit

“Are the interests of the Niagara area represented  properly on the provincial, national and international scenes?

 “Does local government in Niagara cost too much?

 These are the key questions Siegel posed to Niagara, Ontario’s regional councillors as they prepare to enter discussions on how the region should be governed in the years and decades ahead. We ask our readers to share their views on these questions in the comment boxes below, remembering that Niagara At Large only posts comments by individuals who also share their first and last names and contribute comments that are not an over-the-top attack on others.