Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff is in full support of recent governance changes in Niagara.
On Thursday, The Minister of Municipal Affairs says there will no longer be any directly elected councillors at the regional level.
Instead the council will be made up of the 12 lower tier mayors and one provincially appointed regional chair, reducing the size of council from 32 to 13.
Oosterhoff voiced his opinions on CKTB’s The Drive.
“The premier has said a lot over the years there has been a discussion in Niagara for now many years that we have too many cooks in the kitchen. We want to bring down the number of politicians so that frankly we can get decisions made faster.”
“I’ve heard from so many businesses and individuals over the years in Niagara who talk about the merry-go-round of permitting, of decision-making, of going through local councils, municipal councils, regional councils, and hearing just one thing after the other.”
“This is really driven by the need to improve regional governance, making sure that we’re supporting lower costs for municipal taxes, and really just better aligning between regional decision-making and local lower share municipalities, and of course also provincial priorities.”
All changes will take effect for the upcoming term of council.
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