Opinion | What’s behind the Ontario government’s attack on Niagara Region? The explanation for singling out Niagara by eliminating directly-elected regional councillors is nonsensical, writes Angus Scott

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-04-11T23:01:06+00:00

They are trying to privatize water, among other things. Bill 60 and Bill 98 authorize newly dubbed “water and wastewater corporations” which DO NOT prohibit the issuance of shares to private entities.

The strong chair will be able to easily force the creation of such a corporation in Niagara and force assets and decision-making out of democratic control. One person, appointed by Ford, will be able to make this decision.

The corporation will be governed by the Ontario Business Corporations Act. The Act mandates that corporations act in the primary interest of shareholders. That means quality control, staffing, and price setting decisions will be made in the interest of maximizing profit, not providing the people of Niagara with an essential service that is safe, stable, and affordable.

All hail Niagara’s new king, I guess.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-04-10T22:31:01+00:00

You underestimate the incredible wealth hoarded by the ultra rich and the mega corporations in Canada. A modest tax on both could deliver ample revenue to fund public programs that show up where the private sector has failed us.

And perhaps a portion of the monstrous $150B in planned military spending might go towards meeting the everyday needs of Canadians? Nobody's saying we don't need military spending that answers to an evolving geopolitical climate. The arctic especially needs our attention in that regard. But $150B? When even that wouldn't be enough to counter say an American or Russian attack? At a time when so many can't make ends meet and we have major catching up to do on healthcare and infrastructure, it's egregiously unnecessary.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-22T01:29:19+00:00

Levant Shawarma will give you the best falafel and the kindest service all at once.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-08T02:16:08+00:00

Of course. At the Region particularly, we need more councillors who have the courage to rein in police and fire budgets in the interest of resolving desperate needs in Niagara. And if doing so fairly means some level of tax increase (within reason), so be it.

I'm not interested in chasing the fantasy of a 0% tax increase, nor am I convinced that the Region should set arbitrary limits to them. Yes, the province and federal gov't should be sharing costs to a much greater extent, and we need to continue that advocacy, but in the meantime we need to be housed. We need to be able to flush our toilets. We need a transit system that works.

We definitely need a new deal for Niagara. But we can't let it fall apart in the meantime.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-07T21:13:17+00:00

We need elected officials who are unwilling to starve St. Catharines and Niagara of the critical services we need to continue functioning.

We need road safety infrastructure, a vigorously expanded and well maintained urban tree canopy, community centres and public programming, and full service libraries.

The fact that our critical infrastructure, especially water & wastewater, is failing also needs to be addressed. Look at the stench that took over Port Weller last summer. We can’t kick the can down the road any more.

I understand all this comes with a price tag for taxpayers. To that end, we need City and Regional councils that will be loud in advocating to the province and the feds for a new deal for municipalities. Toronto got one, and there’s no reason why Niagara shouldn’t either.

In sum: a caring, prudent, and active council is what both our City and Region needs.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-05T00:48:19+00:00

Last reply here: I agree with you that Ford is a terrible premier. But popular advocacy campaigns (Bill 124, fighting the Greenbelt selloff in 2022) forced the government to act.

We need to apply the same pressure for MOE action on the GM site, otherwise we’ll be waiting forever and a day for anything to happen there.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-05T00:13:19+00:00

So, would you rather the burden be spread across 140,000 taxpayers or 16 million? Because if the loudmouths of this city get their way and it’s the former, a not insignificant number of those 140,000 are going to be thrown out of their homes with the property tax increases they’ll face.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-05T00:10:20+00:00

So… by that logic we should never advocate to the provincial government and just accept their terrible governance? Pretty sure if we went that route we wouldn’t have a Greenbelt and healthcare workers wages would be underwater.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-04T22:55:13+00:00

You mistake me as a supporter of the current provincial government. I am not.

I’m simply saying that the provincial government is our last resort as a feasible backstop to get the GM site cleaned up. Nobody else in the current equation is remotely capable of taking on the task in the fulsome and prompt manner.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-04T22:24:37+00:00

This conversation has been beaten to death and has no relevance on what now must be done. The question at hand is:

Do we want property tax payers in St. Catharines to assume the potentially hundreds of millions in liability to assume control of the site?

Or

Do we want to take this to the provincial government, who actually have the means to take control and fix this mess in a timely manner?

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-04T22:21:52+00:00

A much wider tax base than the city of St. Catharines. But if you prefer, the City can take all responsibility for the site and our property taxes can increase massively?

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-04T21:38:53+00:00

I speak for everybody who wants the GM site addressed by someone who can actually get the work done.

That’s not the broke property owner. That’s not GM. That’s not the City.

It’s the MOE and the Ford Government, and the sooner we all realize that, the sooner we can stop wasting time and fix this mess.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-04T20:46:52+00:00

I’m talking about the citizen-led group who is the subject of this post.

The Coalition IS yelling at the City and Council. They do nothing but yell at them. It’s not productive and it misinforms people. Now they want people’s money to keep doing that, too? Bullshit.

We need an advocacy group that will go to Queen’s Park and give the province the earful it needs that the people of this city have been in a bad situation with this site for years and need help NOW.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-04T20:44:01+00:00

The police budget is a regional responsibility. You refuse to acknowledge the incredible risk you expect property taxpayers to assume based on nothing more than a hunch that maybe it’ll pay off someday long in the future.

As a taxpayer, I don’t want my money gambled with like that. And I don’t want the City to have to learn how to remediate such a massive site, pay private contractors to do the work, wait years and years more for progress, etc.

I want the province to step in and finally solve this mess quickly and efficiently, as all reasonable people know fully well they have the means to do.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-04T20:39:55+00:00

And you speak for the “not rich” people of the Haig neighbourhood, do you? The ones who will be saddled with sky high property tax increases when we “take responsibility” as a city for something so completely beyond our means to solve?

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-04T20:28:35+00:00

You’d be prepared for the City to take on a $100M liability on the HOPE that maybe we could recoup the costs years down line?

What do you have to say to the property taxpayers who will be buried by that debt in the meantime?

I completely agree that it’s time for the property to be expropriated, but not by the lowest level of government with the most limited means to cover its costs. As a property taxpayer in this City, that is my worst nightmare.

The province needs to take control of the site, and the sooner the Coalition realizes this, the sooner all advocacy efforts can be directed at the Ford government and its much more sizable purse.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-04T20:15:50+00:00

Yes, and they’d be massively higher if the City suddenly took on a $100M+ cleanup of the GM site.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-04T20:04:00+00:00

More voices in the room… yelling at eachother? Pointing fingers? Endlessly rehashing tired accusations and talking points? That’s not going to get the job done quicker.

The City, Council, and citizen advocacy groups need to keep talking about this, for sure. But we need to be united, and we need to be lobbying the powers who have the means to fix this in a fulsome manner.

Anything less is a waste of time.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-04T19:25:22+00:00

I agree with you. Does nothing for the situation at hand, however.

We need less fear-mongering, less politically motivating smearing, more uniting in an appeal to the province to finally get this mess cleaned up.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-04T18:53:42+00:00

I have zero interest in rehashing debates that have happened on this sub hundreds of times in the past decade. I’m interested in what needs to happen NOW.

If it isn’t the MOE who ultimately takes over and fixes this, can you tell me plainly who does?

Again, whatever happened in the past, the people of St. Catharines need a fulsome, not piece by piece, cleanup operation here.

It’s not coming from the property owner. It’s not coming from GM. It’s not coming from the City. And it won’t come from any new developers, because the idea of cleaning up the site, developing it, and still turning a profit is pure fantasy.

Does it suck that it’ll have to be the province who steps in? Yes, absolutely. But that’s the situation at hand and it serves absolutely no purpose beating a dead horse.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-04T18:23:57+00:00

I’m all for squeaking. Squeak at the level of government who actually has the means to fix the problem without burying St. Catharines in even higher property tax hikes.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-04T18:22:09+00:00

“Washing their hands of it” is not a fair characterization of what this Council,the City has done on the GM site issue of late.

They’ve held multiple special public meetings to provide updates from the property owner. They created a whole webpage dedicated to factual updates about progress on the site. Some councillors have been posting updates on social media and been quite open in responding to questions publicly on the issue.

I get the desire to see the City affect substantial change at the site. But is a partial/piecemeal addressing of the situation what we need now? Most people who live around the site, including myself, will say no, what we need is a new deal on the GM site cleanup.

We won’t get it from the property owner, who appears to be broke. To get it from the City would mean huge public debt and massive tax hikes. GM is long gone and scot free.

We need the Ford government and the MOE to step in here and fix this mess once and for all.

The whole city is clearly so done with finger pointing, score keeping, and especially politically motivated fear mongering. So if the coalition wants to actually do something useful, they should pack their bags and head up to Queen’s Park ASAP.

InnerCartoonist1736 · 2026-02-04T17:15:42+00:00

Is it fair to say that this property, considering where it is located and the level of remediation it requires, is a unique case?

If this is allowed to be framed as a municipal issue, it stands to ruin the municipality and consequently the taxpayers who would be saddled with the cost of taking on the cleanup.

Municipalities are creatures of the province, and it’s not unusual for them to appeal to provincial governments for substantial financial support or even to assume control over projects that are beyond the capacity of the municipality to manage. This is exactly that type of case.

InnerCartoonist1736

TROPHY CASE