Provincial authority to appoint regional facilitators draws questions from local leaders

Questions over new provincial ‘facilitator’ New legislation from the province has some wondering if it could mean big changes for Waterloo region’s government. Jeff Pickel reports.

New legislation from the province has some wondering if it could mean big changes for the two-tiered government in Waterloo region.

On Wednesday, the province tabled a new bill called the "Better Municipal Governance Act," which gives the province the power to appoint regional heads of council for certain municipalities.

Regional chairs were appointed by the province in Niagara, Peel and York Region.

Waterloo region is one of five regions in the province that will see a facilitator appointed to assess what's working and what isn't.

Local leaders, however, say it is unclear what this means for the region.

“Hard to really know how to respond to that one without some more details and timelines, and to really understand the scope of what that person is going to be examining at the region,” said Waterloo Mayor Dorothy McCabe.

They say at this point they are unsure what the facilitator will do, who they are or where they are from.

Jan Liggett, mayor of Cambridge, questioned if the facilitator is going to be someone local who knows the community.

“I hope we don't have a facilitator from, let’s say Toronto or Windsor, who doesn't know our community or its needs,” said Liggett.

Regional chair Karen Redman is also waiting on more details but believes this is a sign change is coming to the Region of Waterloo.

“I think that it’s a real indication of the motivation of the province to bring about change,” said Redman. “I’m hoping the facilitator and the region working with the facilitator will be able to get positive change that reflects the value of the community”

Redman says she is encouraged the province is working directly with each region to show what works elsewhere may not work here.

“This is really about building more homes faster, we share the province's urgency in getting more homes built, but I would tell you that I think we have had a very thoughtful approach to managed growth,” she said.

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic is also waiting to find out what this all means but says Kitchener and the rest of Waterloo region have created a smart growth plan that he says is working.

“There’s examples of work that’s been done, and it’s part of the reason, quite frankly, that Kitchener and Waterloo region has seen some of the top economic growth in Canada in Ontario for the past two years,” Vrbanovic said.

These appointments come as the province has said it plans to build 1.5 million homes in the next ten years, and cutting through some of the red tape is one of the ways to do that.