The Region of Waterloo is a two-tier government. The upper tier is the Region of Waterloo. The lower tier consists of seven area municipalities: three cities (Cambridge, Kitchener, and Waterloo) and four townships (North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot, and Woolwich).
The elected body that governs the upper-tier Region of Waterloo is called Regional Council. Its membership consists of:
Each of the seven area municipalities has a mayor and a ward council, consisting of ward councillors. The number of ward councillors varies from municipality to municipality.
Not including school boards, voters will be able to cast votes for the following positions municipally:
In 2026, the provincial Better Regional Governance Act, 2026 converted the Regional Chair from an elected position to one appointed by the provincial Municipal Affairs and Housing.
For a deeper exploration of this municipal structure, listen to this recording of the Communitech Summer School: Civics 101 panel discussion with outgoing chair Ken Seiling and political science professor Robert J. Williams.
The regional and area municipal governments each have their own jurdisdictions, and understanding who does what can get complicated. For example, some roads (usually major and arterial roads) are designated as regional roads and are controlled by the Region, while other roads are controlled by the municipality. You can find a list of regional roads on the Region of Waterloo website.
Also on the Region of Waterloo website you can find a more detailed list of who does what.
Some of the more prominent roles the Region is responsible for include:
Some of the prominent roles played by the cities and townships include:
Several responsibilities are shared across the two levels of government. Some of these include:
Unlike provincial or federal politics, the Regional Chair does not set policy alone, and is not the leader of a party.
Under the Better Regional Governance Act, 2026, the appointed Regional Chair will have “strong chair” powers that allow them to override majority votes by Regional Council in some circumstances. For more information, see the following article: Ontario announces plan to slash Niagara Region, Simcoe County councils and add ‘strong chair’ powers
In addition to municipal governments there is also a provincial (Ontario) government and a federal (Canadian) government. They have different responsibilities.
Here are some websites that break down the responsibilities across levels of government:
You will not be voting for provincial or federal representatives in this election.