Little by little, what Simcoe County offers in services is growing, and the plate is looking more and more like that of a region.

The newest initiative is economic development.

“We can start functioning like a small-R regional area. It has to be for the good and betterment of the County of Simcoe,” said Rick Newlove, the county’s corporate services manager.

“We’re trying to do the right thing, the big things, for the betterment of residents of the area. It makes sense to co-ordinate economic development and work with the lower-tier municipalities. We’re marching forward in that direction.”

Economic development is a strategic function; it requires specialized staff and a strong knowledge of the economy, trends and local land and human resources. It’s a job regions do, as they approve planning policies of lower-tier municipalities in their jurisdiction, and work with developers on major projects.

Locally, some small municipalities have economic development offices. It’s a function that can be challenging – and even the City of Barrie struggles to keep the specialized staff. In the past year, the city’s two economic development officers and economic development director have all moved on.

“A website is a key piece. If I’m looking for land for a business, I’ll look at various (municipal) websites to see what businesses are nearby, what serviced land is available, and whether it’s a good fit. We could support the entire area,” said Jane Sinclair, the county’s health and cultural services manager.

The county is set to take a more strategic approach to tourism, one of the area’s key economic sectors, she added. Rather than pure marketing, the county would work to build partnerships and help small tourism companies access provincial, national and international markets and funding.

Simcoe County already provides several services to not only its member municipalities, but also to the “separated cities” of Barrie and Orillia, which receive land ambulance, social services, Ontario Works and children’s services. The county also runs four long-term care homes, supports the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit and the Simcoe County Hospital Alliance, a group that includes all the hospitals in the county plus Southlake Regional Healthcare Centre in Newmarket.

As the county prepares for growth during the next 25 years, council hopes to create a comprehensive, more effective county road network and is investigating the viability of public transit.

The only services other regions provide which the county doesn’t are police, drinking water and wastewater treatment.

Regions’ services have grown since they were established in the 1970s. In the past decade, York added transit and rapid transit.

Waterloo Region, born in 1973, began by offering police services, and the offerings expanded as the needs of the growing area changed. Now the region even provides inter-city bus service between Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge.

Simcoe County sees itself as having more in common with York and Waterloo regions, as opposed to the rural counties, which are half its size or smaller.

“We are the elephant in the room (at meetings of Ontario county wardens and CAOs),” said Simcoe County Warden Tony Guergis. “People always ask why aren’t we a region?”

That is really up to the county.

Ontario is no longer creating regions or forcing amalgamations, noted Jeff Neal, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing’s local government policy branch manager. The last round in 2005 created Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa from the cities, metropolitan areas and suburban municipalities.

Since then, the province has preferred to let communities create “local solutions”.  This was further reinforced in April 2007 when former Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal David Caplan and then Municipal Affairs Minister John Gerretsen told politicians from Simcoe County, Barrie and Orillia they had to work together to manage growth – or risk losing out on provincial infrastructure cash.

“I can tell you this: the longer it takes you to come up with that collective vision, the longer it will take for those capital dollars to start coming this way. That’s the reality. It is not a threat,” said Gerretsen that day as local politicians grumbled.

“It is not a threat. It is not a threat at all. There are many demands on provincial funding, and as other areas in the province get their acts together, that’s where the money will go.”

And becoming a region seems to be the destination.

“It would give people a clearer understanding of what we do. We provide regional services. It’s a proper description of what we do,” said County Warden Tony Guergis.

“Really, it’s just a description of clarity.”