Ontario will appoint hand-picked regional chairs within weeks. Critics call the move 'undemocratic' - CBC

Municipal Affairs Minister Rob Flack says the province will appoint eight regional chairs within weeks now that Ontario's civic elections are over. (Andrew Lupton/CBC)Social SharingChairs of eight regional governments will be appointed by Premier Doug Ford’s government within weeks, Ontario's municipal affairs minister says, as opposition parties express concern the hand-picked leaders will be partisan appointees.

The province announced in April it will appoint chairs to lead councils in the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Waterloo, York and Niagara as well as the warden of Simcoe County. The bill was passed into law in May. 

Minister Rob Flack told reporters Tuesday that he anticipates the new regional chairs will be appointed within “30 to 40 days” and that the process is being driven by the province’s civil service.

“We have a process in place, ministry-led,” Flack said. “I'm not going to mention who applied or who didn't. That's very important. We're going to follow that process to the end.

"We'll be making those announcements in the coming days or short weeks ahead,” he added.

The appointments are set to come as Ontario’s municipal elections wrapped Monday and as changes the province made last spring to regional governments take hold.

Under Bill 100, dubbed the Better Regional Governance Act, the unelected regional chairs will have “strong chair” powers, similar to strong mayor powers given to some cities. 

The powers give mayors control over budgets and appointments, the ability to hire and fire some city staff, vetoes over some council votes and the ability to pass some bylaws with support of only a third of council.

Before Bill 100 passed, regional chairs were directly elected by voters in some communities, elected by sitting councillors in others and appointed by the province in other regions. 

Flack said earlier this summer that the vetting process for the regional chair appointments was underway, but provided few details at the time. Asked Tuesday if politicians in some of the regions who were defeated in the municipal elections could still apply for the jobs, Flack said no.

Opposition leaders at Queen’s Park have called the move undemocratic and called on the government to abandon its plan.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said she's concerned the appointment process will result in partisan, unelected chairs leading the regional governments. 

“This government has shown over and over again that they will put their own people, failed candidates, in those positions,” she said. “People are upset that they can't elect their regional chairs, and this premier wants to continue to meddle in our local democracy.”

NDP Leader Marit Stiles says she is concerned the province will appoint partisan regional chairs who answer to the Ford government and not local constituents. (CBC)

Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser said he’s concerned the appointment process hurts local government.

“Doug Ford's assault on democracy, whether it's here or locally, it just continues,” he said. 

The group that represents all 444 of Ontario’s municipalities has criticized the government’s push to appoint regional chairs, calling it “undemocratic” and saying it needs to be reversed.

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) publicly denounced the move in June, releasing a letter the group's president wrote to the government. In it, Robin Jones said the appointments erode accountability and undermine local politicians' work to represent their communities and deliver services.

"We are very concerned that Bill 100 is the latest in a series of decisions that continues to remove authority from local officials and the voters they serve in favour of concentrating decision making at Queen’s Park," Jones wrote in a letter to Flack.

At the time, Ford defended the move, arguing that he’s just entrenching a practice that was already underway in some regions.

“We've done it already. The previous government has done it,” he said of appointing regional chairs. “So I'm not too sure what they're talking about.”

Shawn Jeffords is a Provincial Affairs Reporter covering Queen's Park for CBC Toronto. He has previously covered Toronto City Hall for CBC and the Ontario Legislature for The Canadian Press. You can reach him by emailing shawn.jeffords@cbc.ca.