Sadly, the Better Regional Governance Act was introduced on April 2, not April 1. Otherwise, it might have just been a bad April Fool’s joke. Instead, it is yet another attack on democracy in Ontario.

Bit by bit, Doug Ford has been chipping away at the independence of elected municipal officials since he was first elected premier. It started in 2018 when he arbitrarily cut the number of wards in Toronto in the middle of an election campaign.

In 2022, we had the Strong Mayors Act. That started slowly with only a handful of municipalities having mayors with the power, among other things, to hire and fire certain senior staff at will, direct staff, set budgets, veto council resolutions, and approve planning applications with the support of only one-third of council, all in the name of increasing housing starts.

Meanwhile, housing starts have declined. And what........

© Peterborough Examiner