Sarnia's mayor thinks "everything is on the table" when it comes to the Doug Ford government's amalgamation agenda.
Mike Bradley said Friday it's important for Lambton County to have a strategy as to what changes it suggests could be made.
He believes everyone is at risk of amalgamations that could be imposed by the provincial government to save money.
"I think all communities including Sarnia will be under the microscope, when you look at the one level of government in Chatham-Kent for example, that could be a model they push on us and we need to be prepared for that," said Bradley." "I'm not afraid of change, I've been through lots of changes in government over the years, but I think all the smaller communities should be concerned because of their size and that's a likely target for this government given what they've done elsewhere in Toronto."
Point Edward Mayor Bev Hand said it's always in the back of their minds but she notes forced amalgamations in the past did not produce the cost savings they were expected to.
"From my perspective, our community, and I've said this many times in the past, it's not something we're looking for," said Hand. "We feel like we operate efficiently and effectively and we're happy to be the village that we are."
This week Ontario's Progressive Conservative government announced a review of the province's regional governments and their lower-tier municipalities.
The review includes Halton, York, Durham, Waterloo, Niagara, Peel, Muskoka District, Oxford County, and the County of Simcoe.
The NDP opposition at Queen's Park warned the regional review will be used as a pretext to impose amalgamation on municipalities province-wide.
Lambton County Warden Bill Weber said some of the amalgamations in the past have worked well and some have not.
"I would hope there's a tremendous amount of consultation and there gets to be local choice in it," said Weber. "We have a good group of elected officials in the county that know what's best locally, and I would hope that that is the direction that is allowed from the province."
-With files from Melanie Irwin and Josh Boyce
