What's interesting about the Peel situation is that it looks like the regional government they want to dissolve was designed to serve the three "lower" tier municipalities, not to lord it over them as an "upper" level of authority. Peel functions a bit like Metro Toronto did before it was dissolved. My impression is that Oxford County, which is in effect a regional government, tends to be more like Peel, meaning relatively modest, while the Region of Waterloo and the Region of Niagara tend to operate more on the "uppity" side of the equation. Some of those "one-tier" voices at Regional Headquarters sound like they're ready to simply take over everything the cities and townships do -- a kind of annexation from above, rather than from the centre, as in Hamilton, Kingston, Ottawa and Toronto. My sense is that the attitude of the KW-centric, One Big City / One Voice / Major Player style leadership is very much like that of Mississauga: they'd be happy to let Cambridge go its own way, in part because their power and influence don't extend that far. If that happens, it would be, in effect, dissolving the region, having Kitchener annex Waterloo, and the two remaining cities dividing up the township between them. What I'd like to see is some kind of leadership -- I'm imagining a consortium of past and present mayors and chairs -- standing up with some kind of statement in response to "the Six," One Big City and Cambridge libre sentiments saying clearly and firmly that we're Better Together - Better Distinct - and better integrated in every way that makes sense, including a re-integration of elements that used to be part of the municipal order that have gradually evolved into free standing powers in their own right, but almost totally under provincial control, like our school boards and our hospitals.
What's interesting about the Peel situation is that it looks like the regional government they want to dissolve was designed to serve the three "lower" tier municipalities, not to lord it over them as an "upper" level of authority. Peel functions a bit like Metro Toronto did before it was dissolved. My impression is that Oxford County, which is in effect a regional government, tends to be more like Peel, meaning relatively modest, while the Region of Waterloo and the Region of Niagara tend to operate more on the "uppity" side of the equation. Some of those "one-tier" voices at Regional Headquarters sound like they're ready to simply take over everything the cities and townships do -- a kind of annexation from above, rather than from the centre, as in Hamilton, Kingston, Ottawa and Toronto. My sense is that the attitude of the KW-centric, One Big City / One Voice / Major Player style leadership is very much like that of Mississauga: they'd be happy to let Cambridge go its own way, in part because their power and influence don't extend that far. If that happens, it would be, in effect, dissolving the region, having Kitchener annex Waterloo, and the two remaining cities dividing up the township between them. What I'd like to see is some kind of leadership -- I'm imagining a consortium of past and present mayors and chairs -- standing up with some kind of statement in response to "the Six," One Big City and Cambridge libre sentiments saying clearly and firmly that we're Better Together - Better Distinct - and better integrated in every way that makes sense, including a re-integration of elements that used to be part of the municipal order that have gradually evolved into free standing powers in their own right, but almost totally under provincial control, like our school boards and our hospitals.