By Joe Mancini
Published in June 2019
The success of Waterloo Region demonstrates its unique model of seamlessly integrating cities, towns and villages. Waterloo Region’s model of decentralized but integrated political entities should be celebrated as a highpoint in democratic culture.
The opposite of Waterloo Region’s political model is that of centralization, the stringing together of municipalities and towns into one emasculated entity which by its nature dismantles identity, history and culture.
What lies behind the centralization trend in government and in business? Why the misguided passion for short-term cost cutting without regard for long-term consequences?
Why does this myth persist against all evidence? “Centralization of power estranges citizens from their society, fuels apathy and cynicism, diminishes citizen participation, and tears at the threads that bind us into a democratic society.”
Ken Westhues said it best: Amalgamation is the idea “that if a medium sized bureaucracy has become distant from ordinary citizens, unresponsive to their needs, wasteful and ineffective, the solution is to amalgamate it with similar organizations and create a bigger bureaucracy.”
The trend of bundling together ever bigger bureaucracies’ follows the trajectory of multinational corporations that buy out their competition to stimulate their growth. Even if this strategy often fails, it is the dominant model of business development. But our democracies are not businesses and centralizing public service distances responsibility and loyalty. While businesses are not concerned for loyalty, the main role for cities is to nurture civic responsibility. It is not logical to model our cities after the structure of transnational corporations.
The success of Waterloo Region is its micro cultures of separate but integrated municipalities and towns. It is in the small democratic communities where real debate happens, where innovations incubate. Subsidiarity is the development of a structure that is decentralized but integrated. This means that the best decision making happens at the local level. This is the best public policy that reinforces democratic culture.
The Guests of Honour at this year’s Mayors’ Dinner are a case in point. The three grassroots health care projects – Sanguen Health Centre, Sanctuary Refugee Health Centre, and the St. John’s Kitchen Clinic each found traction in Waterloo Region because small initiatives are supported. There is recognition for the small because small projects are more efficient, productive, and humanizing. These are key factors for incubating new ideas. When the form of the small is modeled in our democratic institutions, then it is more likely for small productive initiatives to take root in the community. This is what creates a virtuous cycle.
A virtuous cycle has little room to get started when large dominant organizations are able to push aside the energy of emerging groups that are trying to start projects from the bottom up. This process is subtle but the fact of the matter is that bigger organizations are not very good at sharing or cooperating. Big organizations get first access to the resources because of their power and size, not because of efficiency or creativity. The culture of bigness stifles creativity.
In contrast to the model of one big Region, Waterloo Region has evolved as a model of decentralized government and this model is in turn replicated at the grassroots where startup businesses are celebrated and provide jolts of innovation. The Mayors’ Dinner celebrated the same kind of grassroots development in the health care sector. Whether in business, health or social services, Waterloo Region has high creativity and that is a direct result of our model of government and governance.
The success of Waterloo Region is because its decentralized political bodies are easily accessible for its citizens to get involved and solve community problems. When small groups succeed, they inspire others; their success builds community connectedness, a belief in the democratic work of being rooted in place, sharing resources, networking communities and inspiring personal responsibility.
The Working Centre (TWC) is known throughout the province as a thriving organization that started small and models a decentralized and integrated approach. It is not a coincidence that TWC’s model of operation reflects the structure of Waterloo Region.
When TWC started we were fortunate to inherit and extend the values we found around us in downtown Kitchener. The virtues of sharing were paramount, and this ethic became rooted in the fabric of TWC. It is an ethic which inspired our wide network of informal and formal cooperative supports. We inherited this ethic because it was taught to us by the people of Waterloo Region.
It is paramount to preserve the decentralized political institutions of Waterloo Region. Amalgamation would severely hurt and limit those institutions built up over 200 years.
The Working Centre is a thriving organization that deals with every level of government and all levels of institutions. It is easy to complain about inconsistencies, bad decisions, misguided efforts to grab power, red tape, and over-bureaucratization but I would rather do that in a context where there are real levers of democratic power, up and down the political spectrum. The opposite is to embed power in large overbearing structures at the top. This is a recipe for political and democratic stagnation. It would be a shame for our beautiful Region to fall into the trap of the illusions of bigness.
