WHITBY, Ont. — Ontario Premier Doug Ford has roundly rebuffed calls from the mayor of Markham, Ont., to consolidate the 10 municipal governments of York Region into one city.

Mayor Frank Scarpitti has argued that the move would bring significant savings and streamline governance.

Scarpitti notes that the province recently passed a law to break up the upper tier municipality of Peel Region, so he says there is no rationale to maintain the status quo in York Region.

But when asked about it today after an unrelated announcement, Ford said definitively that he would not be consolidating York Region.

Ford says Scarpitti is the only one of the York Region mayors who wants that to happen.

The province is appointing facilitators to assess several regional governments, including York Region, and look at the best mix of roles between upper-tier and lower-tier municipalities with an eye to expanding “strong mayor” powers beyond Toronto and Ottawa.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2023.

The Canadian Press