Cities vs. the Province: What Needs to Change

Last year, the Ontario Government conducted what became a highly publicized review of regional governments throughout the province. For some, like Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, this review was welcomed as the City of Mississauga has longed to break free of the Region of Peel. For others, this was a source of contention and echoed another time the province used its Constitutional authority to manipulate cities and cut the City of Toronto’s city council in 2018 in an effort to “find efficiencies”.

Whether you agree or disagree with the Ontario Government’s decisions is irrelevant. Like it or not, the Province of Ontario has the Constitutional authority to do what it likes with its cities. Where the problem lies is the method the province has taken in recent years to make these decisions. Sweeping decisions that impact cities are made with little to no communication to municipalities, which creates tension and a lack of trust between these two levels of government.

Throughout the summer, regional governments were in a constant state of unease at the notion of suddenly being told “regional governments no longer exist”. Waiting for a press release to announce the fate of an entire level of government certainly doesn’t create trust, or a productive relationship between these levels of government. This was also demonstrated when the Ontario Government took a red marker to the City of Toronto’s development plan for the corner of Yonge and Eglinton, which understandably angered many of the city’s council members.

Again, the trouble with these decisions doesn’t lie in whether they are right or wrong but instead lies with the manner in which they are conducted. Provinces and municipalities must learn to work together in a collaborative and open manner to create policies and make decisions to the benefit of both levels of government. With the province recognizing how its power over cities can create distrust, and municipalities recognizing that, like it or not, the province has the final say. If these two levels of governments can find a way to work together in a meaningful way, better policy could be made, and some efficiencies may even be found.