Discussion Said no to dual role

Regional council unanimously supports motion against dual mayor, regional chair role​

Waterloo regional council opposes allowing a mayor to serve as regional chair simultaneously to protect local democracy and maintain transparency in the region.

By Bill DoucetReporter

Waterloo regional council has unanimously backed a motion advising the province against allowing a mayor to serve simultaneously as regional chair, with both receiving strong powers.
Regional Coun. Doug Craig put the motion forth last week after an Aug. 9 article in The Record noted there is nothing in the Better Regional Governance Act, 2026, which states an elected mayor who applied for regional chair couldn’t hold both positions.
If that happened, it would essentially give one person strong mayor and strong chair powers to push provincial priorities.
“I think what’s important is that we need to say publicly what we believe as a regional council in terms of the development and the continuation of regional council into the future,” Craig said at Wednesday’s regional council meeting.
“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.”
Craig noted the region has historically worked with the province in refining the top tier in the region, as there were 26 regional councillors when he came on board in 1991. Then, councillors-at-large were chosen by each municipal council to serve at the region and the chair was chosen by regional councillors.
The number of regional councillors were condensed to 22 in 1997 and 16 in 2000. At-large councillors were also gone. Mayors were automatically on regional council plus directly elected councillors and an elected regional chair.
“There’s been an evolution of transparency, accountability in a democratic forum,” Craig said.
“This particular issue now, in terms of regional chairs and mayors, and whatever Queen’s Park is dealing with, is really a step back.”