Newmarket and York Region are bracing for significant investigation as the province floats the end of the regional municipality as we know it.
The province announced it would dissolve Peel Region May 18 and said something similar could happen to York and other regions as it conducts governance reviews. It could mean York Region would end, and lower-tier municipalities such as Newmarket would stand more independently.
Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said he is always interested in what efficiencies can be found through review, but he sees York Region as playing a valuable role in governance.
“My greatest wish for this process is that it’s done with a lot of consultation, and a lot of time, and a lot of detailed examination,” Taylor said. “My concern is from some past decisions at the province, sometimes it’s done very quickly, and the details often worked out later.”
The province introduced legislation in November to appoint facilitators to review governance in York and other regions, including the best mix of responsibility between upper and lower tiers of government. These facilitators have yet to be appointed.
In a news release May 18 discussing the dissolution of Peel Region, the province indicated similar action may be on the table elsewhere.
“These facilitators will be tasked with reviewing whether the upper-tier government continues to be relevant to the needs of its communities or whether the lower-tier municipalities are mature enough to pursue dissolution,” the province said.
Under the current system, York Region handles many services within Newmarket and the other lower tiers. These include transportation, public health, police, community housing, water, paramedics, forestry, social assistance and regional road management. These services would fall to the lower tiers if York Region were dissolved, although municipalities can work out cost-sharing agreements to keep larger services, such as Newmarket and Aurora merging their fire departments.
Regardless of the future of York Region, the dissolution of Peel stands to impact it. York Region has water servicing agreements with Peel that regional chair and CEO Wayne Emmerson said would be evaluated.
“York Region welcomes the opportunity to work with the Government of Ontario and our nine cities and towns to consider the best mix of roles and responsibilities between upper and lower-tier municipalities,” Emmerson said in a news release. “York Region is proud to have a strong culture of continuous improvement. Our record of delivering critical infrastructure and services to our communities and residents has served as a strength for our organization.”
Mississauga has advocated for independence from Peel Region for years. But York Region municipalities have not given that public indication they want that same independence. However, an amalgamation of the region’s northern municipalities was floated amid another governance review by the province a few years ago.
Taylor said there are too many unknowns to speculate on how the dissolution of York Region would impact Newmarket. But he said he would have concern for the region’s more rural municipalities, with long roads and smaller population bases.
Rural towns “have large pieces of regional infrastructure, regional roads, regional pipes," Taylor said. "With a smaller tax base, that could be very challenging.”
CUPE 905 is the union for many York Region employees. President Katherine Grzejszczak said the restructuring is costly and disruptive and questioned the government's priorities.
“The review shows how the provincial government is out of touch with the struggles of working class people,” she said, adding there is high turnover in the public sector and their wages are depressed compared to the private sector. “The announcement of a review does nothing to improve public services and the working conditions of (CUPE) 905 members.”
Newmarket is one of six municipalities subject to a provincial audit related to Bill 23, the province’s signature housing legislation. Included in the terms of reference for that is consideration for regional governance.
The governance review stands to take up municipal resources. Taylor said the province and municipalities have limitations, and the Town of Newmarket may have to hire extra consultants or staff to take on whatever work is needed for what the province requires.
“We’re pretty lean. We don’t have a lot of staff capacity to do a lot of this work,” Taylor said. “It will be nice to see some recognition from a funding perspective on these impacts.”
