Province’s review of regional governance comes to Waterloo Region Thursday

As part of The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing’s study on regional governance, a standing committee will be meeting all day Thursday at the Crowne Plaza in Kitchener.

Dozens of speakers will discuss whether or not Waterloo Region should have one regional government instead of the eight councils that represent three cities and four townships.

Those speakers include local mayors, regional councillors, Regional Chair Karen Redman, members of the local business community and more.

Tim Jackson, the CEO of Shad Canada will be in attendance. He shares where he stands.

“I’ve lived and worked in this region, collectively and studied for now more than 25 years and have raised a family in the region. It’s a great place to live, it’s a great place to raise a family, to work, but we just have not met our potential,” said Jackson, in an interview on The Mike Farwell Show on Wednesday.

“It would eliminate I think an awful lot of time, money and resources that we spend that are simply inefficiencies in the current system.”

Jackson is worried the region could lose future investments if people have to come in and potentially deal with all of these municipal governments before being approved.

“As an example, if you lead one of those organizations and you have a plan for the future of that organization and how it can help vulnerable members of our community, you have to go to eight different municipal councils. They only have to sit through one presentation, but you have to do it eight times. “

Not all the local councils get along – which can cause delays in funding, added Jackson.

“The challenge is, if one of those councils says no were not going to fund or were not going to fund at the appropriate level, well now you have a half-funded plan or a partially funded plan,” said Jackson.

“Individual developers for example who will say I’m completely confused because the rules in Waterloo are different then the planning rules in Kitchener and are different from Cambridge and are different from townships, so even at a smaller level we have these challenges where people get frustrated.”

The meeting starts at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jackson is scheduled to speak around 2 p.m. after the Property Taxpayers Alliance CEO.

Currently Waterloo Region is the tenth largest municipality in Canada, but the services don’t reflect that, added Jackson.

“Whether its about bringing businesses to the community, whether its about working with developers whether its about advancing our healthcare, if we were one municipal government for this region and thought of externally as one geographic place, we would be much, much better served.”

Jackson’s opinion is one of many, with numerous councillors and leaders in the region, on opposite sides of the spectrum.

Regional Chair Karen Redman told CityNews 570 in May that she does not want to see the region dissolved, noting,

“We got a strong history of collaboration and we’re looking forward to working with the province … I think we’re a unique community and I would have concerns if we were split … We have always been stronger together.”

In June, six regional councillors–Rob Deutschmann, Jim Erb, Mike Harris, Chantal Huinink, Colleen James, and Kari Williams–called for amalgamation at a press conference. Councillors Doug Craig and Sue Foxton shared their opposition to that plan.