Halton Regular Meeting of Regional Council – February 18, 2026

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with the usual roll call and then we will have our national anthem and a land acknowledgement. Whenever you’re ready, Mr. Click. >> Thank you. Chair Carrer >> here. >> Councelor Adams. >> Adams. >> Is that councelor Ellie? >> Councelor Elli >> present. >> Just got a little bit of feedback there. >> Councelor Bentovena >> present. >> Councelor Best here. Mayor Burton. Uh, we do have regrets from councelor Dudic today. Councelor Elgger

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here. >> Councelor Fogle >> here. >> Councelor Galbrath. >> Councelor Hazle >> here. >> Councelor Jazz. >> Councelor Karns >> present. >> Councelor Null. Mayor CR >> present. >> Mayor Lawler >> present. >> Councelor Malbuff here. Mayor me Ward. >> Councelor Nanda >> here. >> Councelor Nissan >> here. >> Councelor Romera >> present. >> Councelor Sherman >> delighted to be here.

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Councelor Somerville >> exuberant to be here. >> Councelor Stlty >> present. >> Thank you. We have quorum. >> Great. Thank you everyone. And now we will stand for our national anthem followed by our land acknowledgement. Oh Canada, our home and native land true love in all of us. Daily God keep our land glorious and free. Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee. Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee. Wazoo sego tansi greeting Halton region acknowledges the treaty

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lands of the missagas of the credit first nation as well as the traditional territory of the honachonyi wendot andc on which we gather in stewardship with mother earth and the enduring indigenous presence connected to these lands we acknowledge the indigenous nations of the past present present and future. In the spirit of allyship and mutual respect, we will take the path of truth and reconciliation to create change, awareness, and equity as we strive to elevate the collective consciousness of society. Mwitch na

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Marci. Thank you. And we will start with the disclosures of bikinary interest. Seeing none, we have moved by councelor Bentya, second by councelor Best that the minutes of the regional council meeting 0126 held on Wednesday, January the 21st, 2026 be confirmed. All those in favor? That is carried. So next we have the um no ceremonial presentations. Um we do have the uh no delegations, no staff presentations. Uh but we do have the memorandum and correspondence and it’ll be moved by councelor Somerville, second by

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councelor Sherman that all the memoranda and correspondence and information included in the agenda for the meeting held on Wednesday, February 18th, 20 26 and distributed at the meeting be received for information. All those in favor and that is carried. Would anyone like any discussions on any of the correspondents? >> Fogle. >> Councelor Fogle had a hand up. Councelor, when you’re ready. >> Oh, okay. Thank you. Well, it’s and on the agenda addendum agenda the um the memorandum from the commissioner of

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public works to for our submission to the environmental registry um about the class environmental assessment. And I wondered if staff could just explain a bit more about their position regarding uh consultation with First Nations. Um they seem to it looks to me as though the ministry is kind of making it like we don’t need to do that or particularly make things safe and we’re saying that we do. So can staff just um explain to us exactly where the difference lies in between the the ministry and uh what our position is

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through you chair car. Uh thank you for the question councelor Fogle. Uh the goal of the um proposed changes to the environmental assessment act um as stated by uh the province are to streamline the class environmental assessment process. And uh the proposal um that was provided to us um two years ago was when it first came out and and uh was updated um in the last several months. uh was generally to um exempt the majority of infrastructure projects uh from the Environmental Assessment Act

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requirements and a new streamlined process uh was developed for a limited series of projects. uh in our review and um through the commentary that we provided uh to the province both um in in the first proposal and the the current proposal is that by and large uh the infrastructure projects that we undertake uh require a uh comprehensive um preliminary uh investigation of alternatives um and our communities and and our our partners um expect to be engaged in that analysis and uh particularly our indigenous

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communities um through the partnership that we have with them, we have made uh commitments um to engaging with them in that analysis. uh particularly as it relates to archaeological resources uh but also the natural environment. And the proposal um in front of us uh or that was brought forward introduced a secondary archaeological assessment process um parallel to the one that’s currently uh in place um for assessing archaeological potential. Uh, and the proposal did not seem to identify um how

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that addressed uh the concerns that had been raised to us by by our indigenous partners. Uh nor did it address the concerns that they’ve raised to us concerning impacts on the natural environment. So, our comments were focused around uh recognizing our commitment um to engaging with the indigenous communities on those matters and looking for clarity from the province on how the proposal actually address those concerns. >> Um thank you. I I mean I did wonder how this plays out with our treaty

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responsibilities and the possibility of a province putting in place a a process that’s contrary to our obligations and can that be challenged by First Nations uh through your chair car. Um the short answer is yes. Uh the longer answer is that it’s complicated how they would do that. But um I do believe that uh uh the First Nations are um involved in this and and we could potentially see a challenge. Well, while I’ve got a legal opinion there, what about the issue of of the safety that was raised in our response

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that that we have an obligation regardless of what the legislation is to make sure that our infrastructure is safe through you chair car and and thank you for the question councelor Fogle. Um we are uh obligated um to ensure that the infrastructure that we provide for our community is safe um and and meets the the service needs of the community. Um that is uh uh enforced upon us through through the regulations that the province uh enables for for our infrastructure. Yeah, I appreciate making that uh that

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statement. Uh well, both statements because it’s import what what I see happening and maybe I’m wrong, but it looks like we’re trying to do things fast and anything that gets in the road is maybe optional. So, uh, I don’t think it’s optional and, uh, I presume that that this administration anyway is, you know, in the fullness of time, we’re going to do the right thing. I, I appreciate the, uh, the, um, the commentary in our submission and, uh, how clear it was on those issues. Thank

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you. >> Thank you, councelor. And next was councelor Somerville. Clark, when you’re ready. >> Well, thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s on the FCM, the annual update, and it’s actually just to give thank you to a whole bunch of people, especially to council for all the support I’ve had on my time as both on the board for when I ran for president and have served on the on uh FCM for the last 17 years. Uh when I first went to run, the uh former CIO Pat Moy said to me, “Sure, no problem.

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We need to have people doing that.” And he was really thrilled that I was willing to do it. and with your support and the support of him and then CEO McCascal and now CEO Far, it has really been great to have that opportunity to do that and to represent Halton not only nationally but internationally as well. I also would want to point out because probably a lot of people on council wouldn’t realize it when I was first uh went on the board in uh 2008 after serving on committees, Halton Region at

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that time did not have any government relations staff. It was kind of done at the side of the desk uh in between other duties. And um I think uh it was after I was elected as third vice that um the CEO realized then that we kind of need to start paying attention to this and uh we had at that time Lynn and uh Lynn Simons, Mabel Watt and Samantha Thompson would come to attend some of the meetings and now with the amount of work that our government relations uh staff do, not just with FCM but also with AMO

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uh with uh the big city mayors with uh all the organizations that they have in the networks. It really does speak well how Halton has really taken that and has really worked hard to be able to make sure that we are doing government relations. Advocacy is not something that I’ve learned over the years. Uh like any government, it doesn’t always move quick and advocacy can take a long time. But the only way you’re you are only ever going to be able to have advocacy happen is if you’re there at the table. Uh

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zooming in doesn’t always work. Being there in person where you can meet those people and be able to resolve that really does help best. The other one, it was always interesting because former regional chair Roger Anderson used to always say that if you’re not at the table, you’re going to end up on the menu. So when I heard the prime minister say that a couple weeks ago, I thought, hey, he listened to something FCM has been saying for a long time. And it is true. If you’re not willing to

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participate, you are the ones who are at the most risk. So thank you to all the members of council for the support. It was actually uh 13 years ago last week that I announced I was going to run for for third vice president and had the resolution at uh at council that was moved by Mayor Bernett and seconded by Mayor Burton. And I still remember Mayor Mayor Burton’s speech to this day of what he had said and how much I’ve appreciated all the support from everyone around this table and this

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region, not just at Halton Region, but Halton Hills, Burlington, and Oakville. Uh we’ve made a tremendous team and there’s still a lot of work to be done. I will look forward to seeing everybody in Edmonton at FCM’s annual conference the first weekend of June this month and for the other years because as a former president and life member I get to attend those conferences. So I’ll be keeping up on Halton after I’m all done here. But uh thank you again Mr. Chair and to all the staff.

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Well I know I can say on behalf of the people of Halton and certainly the uh council as well thank you so much for the great work you did. Uh, councelor Somerville, you were hardworking and it was really an honor having you on there as our president for uh, all those years and all the committees on the runup and all the great work you did. It was very much appreciated by everybody around this uh, table and you always kept us informed. And I also want to say uh obviously it’s continuing on with

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councelor Nissan and I should add while I’m at it too with councelor Best at AMO as well. We really appreciate the hard work and commitment that you do in bringing it and of course Colin became president of AMO as well. Councelor Nissan is next. Rory. >> Uh yeah, thank you chair and uh my thanks to councelor Somerville as well. Great um particularly great mentor and encourager in my early days at FCM. So, thank you uh thank you Clark. And I did want to just uh just highlight for folks

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next week we have a workshop uh where um delegates from Ghana will be uh coming in to learn about uh the great things we do at Halton and and work with us uh share share things. It’s going to be a really good um meeting and I just uh would uh would ask that everybody come. Please please come out. You’re you’re not going to regret it. It’ll be a great workshop. So, uh, please come to that. As far as, um, advocacy activities, it’s been summarized in the memo. But, uh, FCM is being very flexible and and

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watching how the Carne government is obviously different than its predecessor, and we’re talking their language to try to bring our priorities forward, particularly around infrastructure uh, funding as a way to uh, to back up uh, our economy. So, if anyone has questions about that, don’t hesitate to reach out. Thank you. >> Thank you, councelor. Anyone else on the table? Uh, seeing none, we now will go to the consideration of the reports. And we have a move by councelor Nissan, seconded by councelor

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Best that all the reports in the agenda in the addendum for the council meeting held on Wednesday, February the 18th, 2026 be introduced for consideration. All those in favor? and that is carried. So the first item on there is the health and social and it’s SS0226 the early learning and child care funding update. Any questions and or comments? I see a hand up. Uh councelor has a >> uh through you chair car. Um thank you once again for this report. Um, and uh, I’d like to acknowledge that when we do

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get money from the province that uh, it’s appreciated. Though, as you’ve noted, it it still um, that falls far short. Um, I could I just get some clarity on the number of actual spaces we have in Halton. I see in the advocacy memo that we have later in the agenda that we could take up an extra 4200 spaces, but it’s not clear to me how many current subsidized spaces exist um uh through this program through the chair. Thank you, counselor. Um short answer is 19,800 uh approved spaces in the region under

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the Canadawide early learning child care plan. Um as you alluded to, we have been in constant contact with uh other childcare operators who are seeking to enter the program and we have uh uh good information on their intentions. We have open communications with them and we um are have been clear with them about uh uh the possibility of entering the Canadawide program should additional uh provincial funding be made available. So, in the uh upcoming report, it’s referencing 4,200 more spaces. You’re

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confident we could um we we could fill if uh if the province stepped up and provided us with those spaces. Do I understand that correctly? >> Through the chair, yes, counselor. Um we have a high degree of confidence uh based on our again our engagement with operators seeking to enter the program uh that that we have willing partners and that uh they have an ability to scale rapidly and uh and uh and join the program. Um I’d say the only the only caveat to that is you know these are independent operators. they will make

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their own business decisions at that that at that juncture. Um there are conditions for operators uh when they do choose to join the Canadawide program in in uh Halton uh specifically that they offer uh fee subsidy spaces for low and moderate income families and that they do support uh children with special needs as well. So, so 4,200 more children could uh and families could be supported if the province would give us access to a greater number of spaces. So, from a percentage perspective because you’ve

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explained previously about uh the equity uh I I believe I understood this correctly that the province was looking for an equitable distribution of the spaces. um but we have the greater capacity um and are growing more. Is there any other argument we can put forward to the province of um how beneficial uh providing more spaces would be to the families in Halton? >> I’m not sure through the chair. I’m not sure there’s necessarily additional uh ration that we could provide. I think

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we’ve been quite forthright um through uh direction provided by this council by correspondence from the chair uh to the ministry of education and certainly through bureaucrat bureaucratic channels we’ve been uh most clear I I I would add that uh that uh AMO has been a strong advocate as well for additional uh Canada wide spaces in the region. Um, I I think the dynamics of our community and the demands of a of a of a what might be described as a a commuter community in many respects uh recognizes that there is demand here.

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Um, you know, the conversations with the province I’d say councelor are difficult. um they can point to other challenges in other communities where there uh is a lower rate of child care spaces visa v the child population. Um and so there are there are other differing needs in other communities that I think we collectively need to recognize. That said, our message to our colleagues at the Ministry of Education is we are ready. uh our community of operators is ready and should there be any adjustments in space allocation

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across the province, we will move very very quickly to turn those into um deeply affordable spaces for Halton families. >> Um my last question, thank you for that uh information. Um I given there’s a new minister of education seems to be busy on some other fronts. Um uh um uh is there an opportunity at AMO to advocate um more directly with with the minister? >> We’d be happy to support um the elected officials here in any any manner necessary to um to leverage that type of dialogue. Absolutely.

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Right. Thanks very much. And just so you know, councelor, we have um good roads coming up that there may be some delegations and uh we’ve spoken with uh uh Samantha and um some of the staff and uh the commissioner about seeing if we can get a meeting with the minister if they’re going to be having any meetings coming up. Uh so we will keep you posted for that. And next is councelor Best. >> Yes, just not a question of staff but councelor Hfield. Yes, this is an ongoing issue at the AMO memorandum of

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understanding meetings with ministers. We have one coming up in the next couple of weeks and it is a concern of other regional uh governments as well because uh we’re being shortch changed here and hopefully we can come to some sort of accommodation because uh this is not the only difficult conversation we’re having in the province these days. >> Thank you councelor. Anyone else? Seeing none, we have it moved by councelor Nissan, second by councelor Charman that all the reports in the

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health and social services portion of the agenda be adopted as presented. All those in favor and that is carried. That brings us to public works. The first one is PW0626, the annual report on the developers liaison committee. Any questions or comments? Uh seeing none, the second one is PW0326, the Mid Haldden wastewater treatment plant uh upgrade. Any questions or comments? Uh seeing none, the third item on there is PW0426, the Halton Waste Management Site, Cell4 uh West. Uh any questions or comments?

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And seeing none, we have moved by councelor Somerville, second by councelor Nissan that all the reports in the public works portion of the agenda be adopted as presented. All those in favor and that is carried. That then brings us to administration and f finance and item one is CA0226, the annual advocacy government relations update. Any questions or comments? Uh, next is item two is CA0326, the update on the CN Milton Logistics Hub Project. Any questions or comments? Item three is the uh FN0526,

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the annual report on the investments and cash management. Any questions or comments? Uh, next we have um item four which is FN0326 the 2025 year end accounting transactions and that would need to be confidential if we needed to discuss that. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, that brings us down to the property matter item 5 CS0326, a property matter in the town of Oakville. Seeing no discussion, that then brings us to item six, which is CS0526, SS 03, SS 0326, 60 609, and 629, the regional road 25 in

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Milton capital request. All those in favor and councelor Best. >> Yes. Thank you, Chair Carr. And I just wanted to commend uh uh housing staff for innovating this. This is the northeast corner of regional road 25 and Britannia road which the region acquired as part of the road widening. But uh what’s especially interesting about it is also including two, three and four bedroomedroom units which is especially needed for families would have two or three children that they could actually

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have their own rooms because this is something that I find through Milton transitional housing. there is a lot of families that are in dire need of larger apartments. So, thank you for doing this work and hopefully you can see this built. Thank you, councelor. Anything further? Seeing none, we do have the next item CS0626, the appointment of Holland Region Council Authority and Council Nissan. >> Yeah, I’d just like to um conditional on our on our vote on this item. I would really like to welcome uh

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George Makakus to uh the Halton Region Conservation Authority. Came as a guest to our last board meeting and can already tell he’ll be a great engaged member for the months ahead. So, welcome George. >> Thank you very much. Anything further on item seven? Uh seeing none, we have it moved by councelor Benia, second by councelor Best that all the reports in the administration and finance portion of the agenda be adopted as presented. All those in favor and that is carried. We do have a motion and it’s a motion by

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councelor Best second by Mayor me ward and it’s regarding the mer governance and uh so councelor best as a mover would you like to speak to that first? >> Yes. Thank you, Chair Carr, and thank you, Mayor Me Ward, for seconding this, and also our CEO for the memo. Uh, this is a bit of a more complicated, another difficult discussion we’re having with the province regarding the Ontario municipal employees pension plan. Unfortunately, with Bill 68, what it is doing is reducing the influence of

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municipalities who pay 40% of the share. And it’s one of the concerns we have at the AMO board and executive. We’ve been dealing with this for the last few months trying to find a way that we keep that influence and make sure that we have the pension plan fully funded and you know available in the future because uh there’s a lot of concerns right now about pension funds and hopefully we’re ahead of the curve rather than behind it. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Uh counselor and um

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Mayor Mi Ward, did you want to speak as a seconder? Um, I don’t see the mayor there. Mayor, are you you you’re online, but um can’t see you. Uh >> okay. >> Can you hear me? >> Oh, yeah. Now we can. Thank you, Mayor. We can see you now. >> I’m so sorry. I uh uh sorry about that. Uh thanks for your patience, everyone. Um yeah, I want to thank uh councelor Best for bringing this forward and we did have uh quite a significant discussion at the AMO board on this matter and it

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really is one of those examples of uh the government uh stepping in to business without uh full consultation with the municipal sector. They heard from uh some of the members but not the full uh the full range of folks who would be affected by this decision. And I think the the challenge is that it reduces the ability of municipalities to potentially control what could end up being escalating costs for the program. Uh it diminishes our voice and we really do believe that since we are all paying

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into this, we should have an appropriate voice and representation around that table. So while we uh certainly support any um efforts to to bring efficiencies or to streamline work, uh reducing the impact and the influence of the municipal sector on what is ultimately a municipal uh pension and and the voices of us around the table is not uh the way to go. So uh we we want them to reconsider this and do additional consultation to get the program right. >> Thank you very much. Mayor, anyone else

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further to the motion? Seeing none, it’s been moved by councelor Best, second by council by Mayor me Ward. Um, and so all those in favor and that is carried. Thank you everyone. Next is the uh confidential reports. Um if we needed to uh have any discussion, we would need go in camera for the any of those. Um it’s been moved by councelor Nissan, second by councelor Sherman that all the reports contained in the confidential portion of the agenda for the meeting Wednesday, February 18th, 2026 be approved as

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presented. All those in favor? That is carried. That brings us down to the bylaws. Moved by councelor Nissan, second by councelor Bess. The bylaws number 726 through 1026 as presented be now read, passed, signed by the regional chair and the clerk and the corporate seal fixed to and numbered as follow. All those in favor and that is carried. There we go. And that brings us to uh other business. Is there any other business? Anyone online or in the council chamber? Uh seeing none, we do have the confirmations of the proceedings. I

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moved by councelor Best, second by councelor Somerville that bylaws number 1126 be now read, passed, signed by the regional chair and the clerk, the corporate seal of fixed there too, and numbered as follows. All those in favor and that is carried. That brings us to adjournment. We have by moved by councelor Charman. Second by councelor Somerville. The council do now adjourn to meet again on w Thursday uh February the 26 2026 at 9:30 a.m. or the call of the regional chair. If you can make note of that, it’s Thursday, February 26,

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2026 at 9:30 a.m. or the call of the regional chair. All those in favor and that is carried. Thank you very much everyone for all your support here today and have a great rest of the day.