„Gibt es eine Chance auf einen Anruf?“: Die Ford-Regierung versucht, die Teilung der Peel-Region abzusagen

Some details:

>The plan to split the Region of Peel into three separate cities was on the edge of being cancelled but John Livey, chair of the Peel Region Transition Board, wasn’t even being offered a meeting with the government to ask what was going on.
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>“Any chance of a call?” Livey asked Michael Klimentowski, chief of staff at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, in a text on the morning of Dec. 4.
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>He didn’t receive a reply.
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>The next afternoon he tried again. “Does anyone in the MO want to give us the courtesy of a call?” Livey asked. The text also went ignored.
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>It was four days after Livey’s first request that he finally got a reply, with Klimentowski promising to give him a call.
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>…
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>Together with emails, the text messages tell the behind-the-scenes story of how the Ford government initially failed to engage its own expert panel in its plans to reverse course on the Region of Peel. And then how it was forced to change course once again when it did.
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>Ultimately, during the first two weeks of December and after an intervention from Livey and the premier’s office, the government settled on a watered-down plan for the Region of Peel, downloading some powers to its three members: Brampton, Caledon and Mississauga.
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>…
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>Sources told Global News Livey and those around him called the premier’s office to discuss the impending reversal around the same time they appear to have been ignored by staff in the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
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>After they made contact with the premier’s office, the strategy quickly changed.
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>The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing was told by the premier’s office it had to find a way to retool the transition board and change its scope, instead of scrapping the panel altogether.
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>Global News understands that, while Livey and the transition board had pushed the premier’s office to change direction, Ford and his staff were receptive to the move. Government sources said there was internal concern that the plan to split up Peel Region was looking increasingly expensive for local taxpayers.
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>Late on the evening of Dec. 6, after getting back into the government’s planning, Livey sent a memo to the province “outlining a potential path forward on the Peel dissolution.”
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>…
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>News that the government would renege on its promise to dissolve Peel Region was announced late on the morning of Dec. 13.
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>A cabinet meeting leading up to the announcement included Livey’s suggestions for how he could continue working on some kind of watered-down dissolution, sources said.

What a gong show. To call this a process would be to give it too much credit. This is what governance by people with a populist agenda, but with no long-term thinking looks like. There are notions that some policy might resonate with some of the electorate, and they look to implement it without considering all the other people and systems involved. When they find that out, then they hurry to belatedly change course. It would be better for everyone if we elected governments based on policy proposals rather than feelgood (or feelsbad) statements.