Fourteen Niagara Regional Councillors Who Put A Well-Heeled Developer’s Interests Ahead Of Ours

Below is a list of those on Niagara Regional Council who recently piled $900,000 in development charges on the backs of everyday taxpayers across the region

A Brief Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter/publisher Doug Draper

Posted November 28^th, 2025 on Niagara At Large

In less than 11 months, there will be municipal elections and we, the people, will have another opportunity to decide who sits in these Niagara Regional Council seats. Let’s elected people who will represent us.

At a Niagara Regional Council meeting this past November 20^th, 2025, despite the efforts of St. Catharines Haley Bateman and a handful of others on the council, a total of 14 Regional Councillors, including 10 Niagara area Mayors, vote to waive $900,000 in development charges for a luxury hotel being built by Two Sisters Resorts Corp. in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

How many times have we heard from our municipally elected representatives that “growth should pay for itself.”

Yet for at least 14 of those sitting on Niagara Regional Council – 10 of them mayors of area municipalities – that chorus line rings pretty hollow, especially when it comes to making big money developers pay development charges for parking, roadways, water and waste water pipes and other infrastructure needed to accommodate what they are building.

With that here are the lists of those who, at this past November 20^th, 2025 Regional Council meeting, voted YES to waiving $900,000 in development charges for a luxury hotel being built in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and those who voted NO.

And never mind any gobbledygook you might hear from those who voted YES to waiving these development charges.

They damn well know that if the developer doesn’t pay all of the charges they should, the rest of us will be paying them through our property taxes. And they know that they will be making us do that at a time when many of us out here are already struggling to pay all of our bills.

Now here are the lists –

Those who voted YES to waiving the development charges were –  Welland Regional Councillor and Mayor Frank Campion, Niagara Falls Regional Councillor Kim Craitor, Niagara Falls Regional Councillor and Mayor Jim Diodati, Lincoln Regional Councillor Robert Foster, West Lincoln  Regional Councillor and Mayor Cheryl Ganann, Wainfleet Regional Councillor Brian Grant, Pelham Regional Councillor and Mayor Marvin Junkin, Fort Erie Regional Councillor and Mayor Wayne Redekopp, St. Catharines Regional Councillor Tim Rigby. St. Catharines Regional Councillor and Mayor Matt Siscoe, Port Colborne Regional Concillor and Mayor Bill Steele, Pelham Regional Concillor Wayne Olsen, Thorold Regional Councillor and Mayor Terry Ugulini, Niagara-on-the-Lake Regional Councillor and Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa.

Those who voted NO to waiving the development charges were – Port Colborne Regional Councillor Vance Badawey, St. Catharines Regional Councillor Haley Bateman, Welland Regional Councillor Pat Chiocchio, St. Catharines Regional Councillor Brian Heit, Fort Erie Regional Councillor Tom Insinna, St. Catharines Regional Councillor Laura Ip, Niagara Falls Regional Councillor Joyce Morroco, Grimsby Regional Councillor Michelle Seaborn, Welland Regional Councillor Leanna Villella, Thorold Regional Councillor Tim Whelan, West Lincoln Regional Councillor Albert Witteveen

Those who did not vote for or against the waiver were Lincoln Regional Councillor and Mayor Sandra Eason, who was serving as Chair of the November 20^th meeting and, therefore, did not have to vote on any motion on the floor other than to break and tie, and five absent Regional Council members, including Bob Gale of Niagara Falls, Andrea Kaiser of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Peter Secord and Sal Sorrento of St. Catharines, and Jeff Jordan of Grimsby, who also serves as that town’s mayor.

So there you are.

The next municipal elections are now less than 11 months away and if you are already working on your own list of who you want to vote for to serve on the local council in your municipality and on council at the regional government level, you may want to keep those who did and didn’t vote for this waiver of development charges firmly in mind.

I know that I will.

• Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

Here is another recent news commentary Niagara At Large posted on this issue that you can read by clicking on – https://niagaraatlarge.com/2025/11/21/niagara-regional-councillors-defy-opposition-waive-development-charges-for-underground-parking-for-planned-niagara-on-the-lake-hotel/

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