WATERLOO REGION - The Region of Waterloo will have two more pro-amalgamation voices around the council table after this week's municipal election.

Former Progressive Conservative MPP Michael Harris and former Waterloo city councillor Jim Erb return to politics as regional councillors - and both say it's time to have a serious conversation about whether residents are paying too much for municipal government services.

For Harris, who was booted out of the PC caucus in April in a bizarre texting scandal that appeared to be fuelled by backroom politics, his win is a vindication.

"My career was destroyed by a political agenda. But I wasn't ready to quit politics," he said.

It also means there are two new representatives at the region who believe there's too many levels of local government - with three cities, four townships and a regional government all providing different services.

Harris, a fiscal conservative, said if the region doesn't begin the process of addressing amalgamation, the province may force the issue. Everything from snow removal to wastewater should be on the table, he said.

"It's time we have some adult conversations about amalgamation. If we can't sort it out on our own, it might be done for us," he said. "First we need to look at the services we provide. We have regional paramedics and regional policing. Could we not have a regional fire department?"

If residents get improved response times, it's worth considering, he said.

Erb, meanwhile, was an organizer of a grassroots group called Citizens For Better Government, which a decade ago called for residents to think as one big region and shed parochialism. He believes the public mood may be shifting toward merging some services into a stronger regional government.

He's quick to say Waterloo voters made it clear in a 2010 plebiscite they don't want to merge with Kitchener, and he will honour that. But we need to start looking at efficiencies around services like parks and recreation and libraries, he said.

"We need to be proactive," Erb said. "The community has changed. A lot of people who have moved here in the past 15 years wonder why we have the structure that we do."

In June, Premier Doug Ford shocked municipalities across the province when he announced Toronto city council would be cut to 25 seats from 47.

"Instead of something that's imposed on us, it could have local input and be community-designed," Erb said. "We'd start by saying, what are the services the municipalities provide, and would the community be better served in a different way?"

While the amalgamation conversation is important, there are other pressing issues for the region, he said. That includes getting funding for more affordable housing and getting the LRT extended into Cambridge.

Harris joins incumbents Tom Galloway, Geoff Lorentz and Elizabeth Clarke in representing Kitchener. Erb joins Sean Strickland for Waterloo, while Cambridge incumbents Karl Kiefer and Helen Jowett held their seats.

Along with the new chair, the region's seven mayors round out regional council, meaning Harris will sit at the same table as Kathryn McGarry, the new mayor of Cambridge who he faced off against when they were MPPs on opposite sides at Queen's Park.

But Harris said part of the appeal of municipal politics is setting partisan loyalties aside. He said he's always got along with McGarry and looks forward to working with her. "I'm representing a new party now, and that's the party of Kitchener."

Harris' close relationship with the Progressive Conservative government figures to be important. He said he plans on leveraging friendships within provincial cabinet to push for things like two-way, all-day Go Train service, Highway 7 expansion between Kitchener and Guelph and provincial support in the opioid overdose crisis.

Erb, meanwhile, said he wants to bring a collegial, co-operative approach to his job at regional council.

"Party politics has absolutely no place in our municipal system," he said. "We represent all of the people, and regardless of political stripe we need to enter into meaningful conversations with the provincial government."

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