The Ford Conservative government is doing a lot of things we would categorize as either flat-out wrong or questionable.

It will open the Greenbelt for new development.

Having killed "cash for access" regulations put in place by the Wynne government, Ford is back in the business of selling access to the premier and senior ministers to people who have enough money to pay for it - as in thousands of dollars a plate.

Premier Doug Ford continues to appoint friends and cronies to key jobs with big salaries - he has said he considers the head of the OPP to be a "political appointment" he can fill as he sees fit.

But these sins don't mean the government is doing everything wrong. The decision to launch a review of regional government and value-for-money is an example of an initiative that is actually right and smart.

Hamilton, of course, is already amalgamated, courtesy of a contentious forced marriage between Hamilton and its suburbs, ordered 18 years ago by Ford's Conservative predecessor, Mike Harris. Hard feelings persist to this day, especially among some suburban residents who felt they were better off before amalgamation. But the reality is that Hamilton is one city, and overall the city is probably better off than it was. Bigger isn't always better, but it does offer advantages in terms of economic and social critical mass, collective buying power, reduced duplication of services, and hopefully, a more holistic approach to local and regional government. Obviously, not everyone agrees, but equally obviously, Ford must think some of this makes sense otherwise he wouldn't be doing this.

Some are charging this is more of Ford meddling in local government the way he did with Toronto just before the municipal election. This isn't that. In fact, adopting a process like this is what Ford should have done in Toronto rather than forcing drastic reduction in council size without any consultation or discussion.

It's worth reminding ourselves, again, that municipalities are creatures of the province. So it is indeed the province's job to monitor municipal government performance and make adjustments where necessary. That has never been in question. The uproar about Toronto was more about how Ford did it than whether he had the authority - he did.

A comprehensive review of regional government hasn't happened in a very long time. Ford's administration has appointed two credible experts to head up the work. One, Michael Fenn, used to be the chief administrative officer of Hamilton-Wentworth region. The other, Ken Seiling, recently retired after a long term as chair of Waterloo Region.

Even though it's not likely Hamilton will be directly affected, Niagara and Halton regions are our next-door neighbours and they will be among the two-tier governments in the spotlight.

To be clear, this could end badly. If Ford uses it as an exercise in overly simplistic partisan cost-cutting, it will be a shame. The savings he promised from arbitrarily cutting Toronto council turned out to be fake.

But if he's smart, and pays attention to the advice offered by his advisers, and only makes decisions based on evidence, this review could turn out to be a good thing.

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