Ontario Premier Doug Ford says it’s “a good thing” that his government has reversed a number of policy decisions over the last few years.
Speaking at an unrelated news conference on Thursday, the premier said he doesn’t feel guilty about changing his mind on making Mississauga an independent city, something the late Mayor Hazel McCallion had strongly campaigned for.
“We’re open minded. We listen to people,” Ford told reporters in Etobicoke.
The legislation, known as the Hazel McCallion Act, passed in the summer after the Progressive Conservatives decided to skip public consultation.
On Wednesday, the same government announced that it would not be allowing Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon to become single-tier cities by 2025 as originally announced.
Instead, it will “recalibrate” the mandate of a transition board set up to deal with issues of governance, finance and shared services to focus on finding efficiencies.
“We are amending the legislation, not getting rid of it,” Ford said while sidestepping questions about why research about the impact of regional dissolution wasn’t conducted before the bill passed.
“You know what the biggest mistake is with elected officials, politicians across this country, they dig their heels in even though they know it may or may not be the right decision,” he said. “We don't do that.”
In just the last few months the Progressive Conservatives have reversed changes they had made to the Ontario Greenbelt and the urban boundaries of multiple cities.
Housing Minister Paul Calandra said that in both cases the “process was one that I was just not comfortable with.”
The reversals came after multiple scathing reports by the province’s auditor general and integrity commissioner found that policy decisions were made in a way that was not transparent and lacked leadership.
A more comprehensive list of policies reversed by the Doug Ford government includes the use of the notwithstanding clause to impose a contract on education workers, new blue licence plates that were barely visible at night, a revamp of the Ontario Autism Program, cuts to public health, and changes to e-learning and legal aid.
Ford hinted that the reversal of Peel’s dissolution was done so at the recommendation of the transition board, who said taxes would increase substantially and there could be problems with certain shared services such as emergency services.
It’s important to note that municipal leaders and experts cited these concerns prior to the legislation passing.
The findings of the transition board have not been made public.
