Mayor Bill Steele of the City of Port Colborne, Ontario, joined seven other Niagara municipal leaders in March 2026 to send a unified letter to Premier Doug Ford. The group is proposing a new plan to modernize how local services are managed and ensure that decisions about the community stay in the hands of local residents.
The mayors’ proposal focuses on updating how the region is run by reducing the number of overlapping services while making sure taxes stay low. The plan specifically rejects the idea of merging different towns and cities into one large municipality, a process often called amalgamation, which some had previously suggested.
Along with Port Colborne, the letter includes leaders from the City of Thorold, West Lincoln, Fort Erie, Grimsby, Pelham, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Wainfleet. Premier Doug Ford has indicated that the provincial government will not force changes on the area, stating that any updates should be decided by Niagara leaders themselves.
This joint effort is a response to recent debates about the future of the Niagara regional government. Mayor Steele and the other leaders are pushing for a solution based on community needs and data rather than having changes imposed by the regional chair or the provincial government.
