The Ford government’s Better Governance Bill has passed at Queen’s Park.
Bill 100 cuts the size of Niagara councils, and gives an appointed Chair ‘strong chair’ powers that can override elected officials.
The bill reduces the size of Niagara Regional Council from 32 to 13 members, comprised solely of the 12 local municipal mayors and one appointed Regional Chair.
It also allows Niagara-on-the-Lake, Thorold, Grimsby and Port Colborne to reduce council size by two seats each.
Niagara Falls NDP MPP Wayne Gate has strongly opposed Bill 100, calling it an anti-democratic “power grab” by the Ford government.
He has specifically criticized the bill for allowing the province to appoint regional chairs with “strong mayor powers” to overrule locally elected mayors.
Story and photo credit: Bonnie Heslop
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