With the candidates officially locked in ahead of the upcoming 2026 municipal election, regional councillors have now turned their attention to a position that won’t be on the ballot: regional chair, now pushing to oppose the potential for someone serving as both chair and a local mayor.
Council members met Wednesday to voice their concerns about the now provincially appointed position, with a motion that would send a major message to Queen’s Park about what they believe the future should hold for the key leadership position.
“I think the motion is basically sending a message to Queen’s Park that we find that this is an affront to local democracy, that the people of this region can choose their own chair, and they’ve done that successfully for a number of years, and that we would like to stay on that path,” said Councillor Doug Craig, who introduced the motion.
It comes as, earlier in the year, Premier Doug Ford’s government announced that the role would shift away from being an elected position and, instead, the province would choose who they wanted to lead the region through an application and selection-based process.
The bill that introduced that action is known as Bill 100, or the Better Regional Governance Act, which doesn’t rule out the possibility of the province appointing one of the region’s elected mayors to the role of regional chair.
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Craig stated that the region has made substantial progress when it comes to the duties, roles, and appointments of the regional chair, saying that making a substantial move that takes the local community out of the equation is one that could potentially push the region in the wrong direction.
“This particular issue now, in terms of regional chair and mayors, and whatever Queen’s Park is dealing with, is really a step back,” Craig stated.
“I think it’s something that we should be concerned about, and it’s something that we need to, in our own way as council, state our position on.”
Other councillors at the meeting largely sided with Craig and the motion brought forward, stating that having a mayor appointed to the role of regional chair could bring questions about favouritism and workload management to whoever would move into the position.
“I’m also concerned about fairness to the other municipalities within the region,” said Councillor Pam Wolf.
“The chair’s role is to represent the interests of the entire region, not a single municipality.”
She continued to state the relevance of the regional chair being a full-time position, saying that, “Given the demands of both offices, it would be difficult for one person to serve effectively in both roles.”
Councillor Colleen James said that some compromise could be a potential option moving forward, pointing to the possibility of keeping it as an appointed position, but instead having those newly appointed councillors in October be a part of the process in choosing the next regional chair.
“I support this; I’m going to, I just think that if there was any appetite for the province to say, ‘Could this council be part of that decision-making process in the end,’ I think that’s some sort of common ground and something that may benefit the community,” James said.
Bringing in some outside perspective, Councillor and Waterloo Mayor Dorothy McCabe said that recent discussions through the Association of Municipalities of Ontario have shown that many other leaders across Ontario are opposed to the actions being taken by the provincial government.
“They are across the board opposed to this direction of the province, and are calling on the province to reverse Bill 100 and to maintain the democratic election of heads of council,” McCabe said.
“Representatives from across every corner of Ontario also are opposed to this direction and Bill 100.”
Ultimately, council members unanimously agreed to move ahead with the motion, pushing to oppose the potential for a mayor to be appointed as regional chair. Staff will now send forward those concerns, thoughts, and potential recommendations to Queen’s Park in the near future.
The next regional chair will begin their term following the upcoming election on Oct. 26, with a posting stating that they will begin their four-year term as of Nov. 15.
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