Bill 100 explained in plain English

This Act restructures regional governance and municipal elections in Ontario by changing how heads of council are appointed, altering regional council compositions, and withdrawing certain 2026 election nominations for affected municipalities.

Bill 100, the Better Regional Governance Act, 2026, makes significant changes to how regional municipalities and certain counties in Ontario are governed. The bill became law on May 7, 2026. **Key Changes:** The bill affects eight specific municipalities: the Regional Municipalities of Durham, Halton, Niagara, Peel, and Waterloo; the District Municipality of Muskoka; the County of Simcoe; and the Regional Municipality of York. **How heads of councils are chosen:** Starting with the 2026 election, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing gains the power to appoint (or remove) the heads of council for these eight municipalities. Previously, heads of council were elected. The councils themselves can also appoint heads of council if the Minister does not. The Minister can also appoint a new head of council if a vacancy occurs. **Changes to council membership:** - The County of Simcoe's council will now consist of the head of council plus the heads of council from each of its 16 lower-tier municipalities. - The Regional Municipality of Niagara's council will now consist of the head of council plus the heads of council from each of its 12 lower-tier municipalities. - For three Niagara-area municipalities (the City of Thorold, the City of Port Colborne, and the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake), the Minister can make regulations to prescribe their council composition for 2026. - The Minister can also make regulations governing how many votes council members have at upper-tier municipalities, though each member must have at least one vote. **Election nominations:** Anyone who filed to run for head of council in the eight affected municipalities in the 2026 election is deemed to have withdrawn their nomination when the bill received Royal Assent (May 7, 2026). Anyone who filed to run for council positions in the Regional Municipality of Niagara (except for head of council) is also deemed to have withdrawn. This means those candidates cannot run in the 2026 election for those positions. **Review of council representation:** Regional municipalities (except Niagara) must still review how many council members represent each lower-tier municipality. For Niagara specifically, this review will happen after the 2034 election and every second election after that, rather than immediately. **When the changes take effect:** Most of the bill came into force immediately on May 7, 2026. However, some provisions (sections 5, 6(2), 7, 8(2), 9, and 10 of Schedule 1) come into force on November 15, 2026. The bill gives the Minister broad authority to make regulations to implement these changes and handle transitional matters.