Democracy Wins The Day – At Least For Now – In A Heated Response To Niagara Regional Chair Bob Gale’s Very Undemocratic Attempt to Force Municipal Amalgamation On Us
A News Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter/publisher Doug Draper
Posted February 27th, 2026 on Niagara At Large
Town of Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop
“This looks like a Bob Gale flyer, … like your mission,” Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop told Bob Gale, the Ford government’s recently appointed Chair of Niagara’s Regional Council at a recent February 23rd meeting of his town’s council. “Do you expect to move forward (with forced amalgamation of municipalities in Niagara) without consulting the public,” asked Redekop. “I believe there should be public consultation.”
St. Catharines Regional Councillor Haley Bateman
“You have prevented public participation. We should have delegates (from the public) here tonight …. And we do not,” said St. Catharines Regional Councilor Haley Bateman at a February 26th, Niagara Region committee-of-the-whole meeting called to discuss Gale’s letters calling for forced municipal amalgamation. “They are not allowed to speak at this public meeting (and) that is brutal.”
Port Colborne Regional Councillor Vance Badawey
“The most important part about leadership is collaboration (between elected representatives, citizens and members of the business community),” Port Colborne Regional Councilor and former mayor for that city and MP for Niagara Centre Vance Badawey, stressed at the February 26th Regional Council meeting. “It is up to us, not just Regional Council, not just 12 municipal councils. … So let’s be involved, let’s work together and let’s ensure that the Premier hears load and clear what Niagara expects. That’s leadership. That’s what we are all about.”
The above comments were among just a few from elected officials since word began to spread this past February 19th that Bob Gale, a failed candidate for Ontario Premier Doug Ford in the last provincial election and Ford’s recently appointed Regional Chair for Niagara, sent letters to the provincial government and to the mayors of Niagara’s 12 local municipalities – with no prior approval from Niagara’s Regional Council – that he urgently wants to move forward with slashing the number of municipalities and locally elected representatives across the region.
Niagara Regional Council meets on Gale’s push for forced municipal amalgamation. photo by Doug Draper
At first blush, it looked to this Niagara resident and not just few others that there might be nothing stopping Gale from doing it with little or no public consultation at all.
Then something good happened that should show us all why democracy matters if we choose to engage in it.
By this past Monday, February 23rd, one musical council after another, starting in a very big way with the one in the Town of Fort Erie, began to take the bully in the Regional Chair’s seat on.
Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop and his council let Gale, who was present at their meeting, know as firmly as they could that they were not going to be rolled over by Gale without convincing evidence, that he never presented, that their community would be better off in a Niagara governed under one large city or possibly four.
Citizens from across Niagara rally against Gale’s forced amalgamation drive outside of the Region’s headquarters. photo by Doug Draper
Fort Erie’s opposition to forced amalgamation was followed in short order by Thorold, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Port Colborne, Lincoln and others. Only the mayors of the largest municipalities in Niagara – St. Catharines, Niagara Falls and Welland – expressed a willingness to join Gale in his forced amalgamation drive – possibly because they would have the least to lose, including their jobs.
It may also not be a coincidence to note that the same three mayors – Mat Siscoe of St. Catharines, Jim Diodati of Niagara Falls and Frank Campion of Welland – publicly paraded their support for Doug Ford during the last provincial election.
Yet the opposition to Gale’s forced amalgamation grew to a point that he was almost forced to hold a snap committee-of-the-whole meeting of Regional Council this past February 26th to give council members a chance to have their say on his shotgun letters.
Citizens across Niagara quickly organized a rally in front of the Regional Headquarters before the meeting began, to demonstrate their opposition to what Gale was up to and it was heartening for this Niagara resident and reporter to pull up to the headquarters and see a very large number of fellow citizens, on such short notice, show up in the cold to participate in this rally.
Niagara citizen and community activist Liz Benneian urges fellow citizens to demand to have a say in municipal amalgamation at rally she helped organize outside Regional headquarters.
Just as heartening was the number of elected representatives at the meeting who spoke out so forcefully against what Gale was trying to pull off. Many of them expressed their disappointment and some went so far as to express their anger and disgust that Gale sent these amalgamation letters out to local mayors and the provincial government without any prior approval from the Regional Council and without any consultation with the public.
So with a full gallery of citizens in the council chambers, along with citizens spilling over into overflow rooms, a majority of Regional Councillors passed a resolution- tabled by Fort Erie Mayor and Regional Councillor Wayne Redekop and seconded by St. Catharines Regional Councillor Laura Ip – that Gale back off while a governance review takes place that addresses way the Region can serve all of its citizens more efficiently and that it carry out this review with real data to back up any changes in governance that might be made.
The resolution also calls for full consultation with the public.
Bob Gale’s juggernaut was derailed thanks to a majority of Regional Councillors and thanks to so many members of the public that demonstrated their concern.
For now, at least, democracy in Niagara has prevailed.
Niagara At Large will post more on the information that came out of the Febrary 26th Regional Council meeting and from other sources on this important issue later. Stay Tuned!
-
Doug Draper, Niagara At Large
I urge you to watch the entire Niagara Region meeting to hear what all of our Regional Councillors had to say on this important matter. Vance Badawey’s terrific comments begin at 2:25 on this video and Haley Bateman’s comments begin at 1:53, To move to them, take your cursor and move the red ball at the bottom left corner over to those times.
To watch it all, click on –
NIAGARA AT LARGE Encourages You To Join The Conversation By Sharing Your Views On This Post In The Space Below and by sharing the Niagara At Large site at www.niagaraatlarge.com with all of your friends and associates.
Visit us every day on www.niagaraat.arge.com and on Doug Draper’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/doug.draper.180 and encourage everyone else you know to do the same. Let’s build local news and commentary media!
Niagara At Large 