Author: Laura Ip

Called it

~ Laura Ip ~ Leave a comment

At the Committee of the Whole meeting on Thursday, February 26, 2026, I opened my remarks with:

I would imagine that the reason these letters weren’t shared with the directly-elected Regional Councillors until well after they were sent and still not by the Regional Chair is because the decision has already been made that the next election will not include directly-elected Regional Councillors, so why ask for their opinions at all.

It is incredible to me the disdain that some politicians have for… politicians. And, every single time I’ve seen this disdain, it has – without fail – been about those disdainful politicians wanting more power for themselves.

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Bob Gale is unfit for the role

~ Laura Ip ~ 1 Comment

Honestly, the title could stand by itself and be the end of this blog entry, but let me explain anyway.

For those of you following this issue, you will know that – less than one week ago – Council passed the following resolution after Bob Gale took it upon himself (or so he tells us, except for the two times he’s slipped up and then denied saying what he just said) to send letters to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and to the mayors of Niagara’s 12 local area municipalities indicating that he was seriously contemplating governance reform and amalgamation into either a one-city or a four-city model:

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Too many municipal councillors?

~ Laura Ip ~ Leave a comment

Maybe.

Is this a problem though?

In my view, one of the biggest challenges with the amalgamation/governance/126 elected officials discussion is that very few people are indicating what specific problem they’re trying to solve.

We keep hearing about cost savings and service efficiencies, but numerous very easily found studies debunk these theories.

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Governance Reform in Niagara

~ Laura Ip ~ Leave a comment

The Committee of the Whole meeting that took place on Thursday, February 26, 2026 was a lively one!

Thank you to everyone who attended in Chambers and/or the overflow room. We’ve filled Council Chambers several times over the years, and it’s always good to see this level of engagement.

A number of things happened on Thursday night. Some of them are captured in the videos below, some of them can be found by viewing the entire video of the meeting found here.

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Re: Regional Chair Bob Gale’s letter to Minister Flack about Regional Governance in Niagara

~ Laura Ip ~ Leave a comment

I will begin by saying that I have zero skin in this game, as I have shared with people for nearly a year now that I have no intention of running for re-election.

And let’s leave the issue of any form of amalgamation aside for a moment, as I’ve yet to speak to any two people who can agree on whether there should be amalgamation of Niagara’s municipalities or what it might look like.

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