Is it time to re-consider amalgamating the nine municipalities that make up York Region?

Georgina, East Gwillimbury, Newmarket, Aurora, Whitchurch-Stouffville, King, Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Markham, which make up York Region vary in their size and urban vs rural feel, however can all be described as suburbs of Toronto.

When considering the feasibility of amalgamating these municipalities into one (perhaps the City of York), we can consider the two of the four ways discussed in class that allow you to define a city.

Population Characteristics

One of the ways we defined a city in class was through population characteristics. According to the 2021 Census, the population of York Region is 1,173,103. Furthermore, York Region is the third-largest Census Division in Ontario, which according to Statistics Canada is “a group of neighbouring municipalities joined together for the purposes of regional planning and managing common services.”1,2

In class we also discussed the concept of commuter sheds, which describe a cluster of commuting activity within different municipalities and cities. I grew up in Stouffville, and most people who live in Stouffville don’t work in Stouffville. They commute to other municipalities like Markham, Newmarket, Vaughan and Toronto. Thus, when considering where people live relative to where they work, it makes sense to group these municipalities (with the exception of Toronto of course) together into one larger municipality or city.

Sociological Patterns

Another way we defined a city in class was through sociological patterns, which includes how people experience a city. I would argue that if you’re experiencing any municipality in York Region, you will likely be experiencing it by car. Yes, there are some transit links in these communities (e.g., Subway extension into Vaughan, York Region Transit bus system), however the spatial design and planning of these communities likely means you own a car and use it to get around.

Based on sociological patterns, we all live in similar ways in these communities (e.g., auto-dependent suburban experience), as they were designed for cars, and the nine municipalities that make up York Region should be amalgamated into one.

Stronger Accountability Measures

Another topic we discussed in class was the responsibilities of different municipalities, and we saw that many of the smaller municipalities (e.g., Vaughan) did not have a climate plan. However in contrast, we discussed how the City of Toronto has a division dedicated to climate action and they have an ambitious climate policy, TransformTO, to get the city to net zero by 2040. I think that amalgamating the York Region municipalities will allow for stronger accountability measures for taking climate action as it will be more feasible and have a stronger impact if a climate policy is developed for the entire region, as opposed to each municipality making their own climate plan (which is unlikely and will lead to disjointed efforts across the area).

In summary, I think that the nine municipalities which make up York Region should be amalgamated based on two of the four ways we defined cities in class, and will hopefully lead to stronger accountability measures on issues we care about, such as climate change.

1 York Region. (2021). Census Release Report.

2 Statistics Canada. (2018). Census Division.