NDP Leader Andrea Horwath tabled a bill yesterday calling for public consultation and a vote by local politicians before the provincial government can change a municipality's structure.
She says the NDP first got the idea after Ford slashed the size of Toronto City Council and cancelled the election of regional chairs in several areas, including Niagara, last year.
"It's not appropriate for a Premier to, on a whim, be able to make those kinds of changes that were largely politically motivated for him. I mean, taking some revenge on previous foes both in the City of Toronto elections, but also the Mayor of Brampton, who is now the mayor but was running for regional chair at the time, who was a major foe, Mr. Brown, of Doug Ford."
The provincial government is currently delving into the results of a public consultation on local governance.
Residents were able to submit feedback online or in person during meetings with a pair of provincial special advisors.
However, when the advisers were in Niagara the meeting was cut short due to a poor turn out.
"What we want to guarantee is that the culmination of the process if you will, the consultation, ends in an opportunity for the locally elected people to have a vote and determine the future of their democracy locally," Horwath tells CKTB's Tim Denis.
Several regions including Niagara, York, Peel, and Oxford County could face amalgamation by the end of the process.