The Greater Victoria amalgamation issue needs a leader, not a facilitator, and the provincial government should be that leader. It needs a third-party, in-depth study to gather useful information, not a Kumbaya meeting of mayors that is unlikely to result in any meaningful progress. And the provincial government should conduct that study, as it has promised to do.
The province won’t impose amalgamation on the capital region, Community Minister Peter Fassbender said in a speech to the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. That’s not news — Premier Christy Clark said the same thing shortly after the 2014 municipal election. Besides, the Community Charter is clear that municipalities can’t be forced into amalgamation.
Fassbender said the province will act as a facilitator in discussions about regional governance. He has invited the region’s mayors to a meeting in early December. He spoke of “appropriate and important dialogue.”
Unless that meeting brings the region closer to an amalgamation study, it will be ignoring the results of the 2014 election, in which a majority of people who were allowed to vote on the issue indicated they wanted some kind of a study.
Eight of the 13 municipalities included a question about amalgamation on the election ballot. Each question was different, though.
For example, Central Saanich, North Saanich and Sidney asked about amalgamating just those three municipalities. Saanich refused to use the “A” word at all, presenting its voters with a convoluted, nebulous question.
Oak Bay asked: “Are you in favour of the District of Oak Bay being amalgamated into a larger regional municipality?” The bluntness of the question was almost guaranteed to elicit a negative response. Who leaps into the water without first ascertaining how deep it is or if there are dangerous currents? Even so, 38 per cent voted “yes.”
The variety of questions is the very reason the province should take the lead. Mayors and councils were brought grudgingly to this point; there’s no reason to believe municipal governments will move the issue forward on their own.
Following the election, then-community minister Coralee Oakes was clear.
“We will be doing a governance study,” she told reporters in November 2014. “It’s going to be hard work. It’s going to be complex. It’s going to be very, very difficult, but we’re committed to doing that. It’s going to be complex, but it’s worth doing.”
Has political amnesia softened that commitment? We hope not.
The province needs to be firm and fair in gathering information that will allow informed decisions. It needs to be neutral and stay far above regional rivalries and old grudges. The process should be guided by what is right, not who is right.
It’s vital that municipalities be involved in the process, but this is an issue that screams for input from the other side, from all sides. Even municipalities such as Metchosin and Highlands that are highly unlikely to favour amalgamation could provide valuable perspectives.
Amalgamation is not necessarily the way to go, but the study shouldn’t shy away from the possibility of reducing the number of municipal governments. Such a study could yield valuable information about regional governance, regardless of the outcome of the process. Facts are needed; feelings should not be ignored.
Amalgamation has been talked about in the capital region as long as there have been multiple municipalities, but it’s just empty talk, and it will continue to be empty without a thorough, official study.
The province should stop tentatively dipping its toes into the water and dive right in.
