One way or another, it seems we are going to get a new provincial government. It’s not too soon to think about what Vancouver Island wants from that new government.
One thing that should be near the top of the list is some resolution to the unending question of regional governance for our 13 municipalities. Better co-operation is an essential minimum, and amalgamation has many advantages, although it might fail in a referendum. Amalgamated or not, we need a government with the courage to force our mayors and councils to think regionally.
At this point, we don’t know if the B.C. Liberals will be able to salvage a government, the NDP will take over or a new election will toss everything up in the air again. Regardless of the outcome, all the parties should start paying attention to the Island.
We’ve spent 16 years being told by the NDP that things would be fairer if they were in power, so now they can prove it. The Greens can show their commitment to the communities that elected them. And the Liberals can start setting out reasons we should vote for them in the next election.
In the 2014 municipal elections, a hodge-podge of questions appeared on eight municipalities’ ballots, generally asking if voters wanted to study the possibility of amalgamation. Despite the difference in questions, a majority said yes. Only Oak Bay, which asked yes-or-no to full amalgamation, got a no.
Central Saanich, North Saanich and Sidney voted in favour of a three-way amalgamation.
With that clear preference, the provincial government promised to begin looking into the issue — but let it die. That is not acceptable.
Provincial governments have a horror of forcing amalgamation, after seeing the experiences in Toronto and Halifax, but force and inaction are not the only options. Voters and politicians need solid, reliable information on which to base a decision.
We don’t expect a provincial government to impose amalgamation, but we do expect leadership — funding independent studies and leading a public process. And we expect the province to have done enough work by the next municipal election in 2018 that it can force or guilt every local government to put identical options on the ballot for public input.
If voters choose amalgamation, the government must make sure it happens expeditiously, because local politicians will stall as long as they can.
However, if amalgamation doesn’t happen, the next government must take on what could be an even more difficult task. It must push, pull or drag all those politicians to make sense out of some key regional issues on which we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot.
Transportation is an obvious place to start. The way we live, work and shop, there are no municipal boundaries. We travel about the region as if it were one city, but our transportation planning ignores that reality.
Although the need is blindingly obvious to every commuter and shopper, the will to overcome parochial inertia just isn’t there. Our leaders need a kick in the collective behind from a higher authority, because the pleas of voters go unheard.
Policing is another clear target. Just as ordinary commuters ignore boundaries, criminals flit from municipality to municipality. Even if municipalities don’t amalgamate, we could have a single regional police force that would do a more effective job than our current fragmented ones.
Two of the main parties reaped many of the votes in Greater Victoria. The other party desperately needs to increase its vote next time if it hopes to return to power.
Fixing our region’s mess is one way to earn our trust — and our votes.
