Presently, municipalities and counties, the form of government closest to the people, are creatures of the province and can be collapsed, amalgamated, or expanded with the stroke of a legislative pen and three readings. In addition, their responsibilities, funding, and financing dangle on the threads of whatever partisan wind is blowing. Giving them constitutional recognition would free major municipal governments from this faulty master/servant relationship.
 

Checking Majority Rule

          An elected upper house is recognized as a requirement where diverse populations reside in large geographic jurisdictions. They exist in Australia and other successful Commonwealth countries, and in the United States. In fact, many Canadian provinces, including Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and Quebec, originally had provincial Senates. They were discredited and discarded, however, because they were appointed, not elected. A provincial senate representing communities of interest, with staggered elections by preferential ballot, would ultimately reduce the number of flawed and unpopular Bills passed, preserve and respect regional diversity, and mitigate, not replicate, the failings of the lower house elected on the basis of population.

          The priorities of Ontario's urban politicians and bureaucracy are bans and restrictions, and they are out of sync with the people of rural Ontario. This has resulted in Ontario going from first to worst in economic performance, a painfully dismal record in health care, high taxes, a ballooning bureaucracy, deficits, reduced individual responsibility and freedoms, and have-not status. This dismal performance is a reflection, not of coincidence, bad luck, or external factors, but of the wrong priorities. In a democracy, people, politicians, and governments are the authors of their fortunes, good or bad. But institutions matter as well as personalities. An improved bicameral political structure is needed so that the urban drum is not always the loudest.

          Ontario is too large and diverse to be represented by a single legislative house. The North, South Eastern, South Western, and Central regions are significantly different than the GTA and indeed from each other. Our political system ought to mitigate these regional differences instead of exacerbating regional divisions.

          A glance at the electoral map shows that the current system is not doing the job. It's time for a bicameral provincial government to check and balance parliamentary majorities that show little regard for regional diversity.