Public discussion about amalgamation in the capital region is essential, but talk alone isn鈥檛 enough. The province needs to take a leading role in exploring the issue and crafting possible solutions.
Eight of the region鈥檚 municipalities included non-binding questions about amalgamation on ballots in the November municipal elections. In seven of those communities, the majority voted in favour of studying the issue.
About 100 people gathered at a grassroots forum Tuesday to participate in discussions about improved governance. The forum, called the Greatest Greater Victoria Conversation Project, didn鈥檛 dwell solely on amalgamation, but discussed a variety of issues, including transportation, emergency services, water, sewer and waste, social support, parks and recreation, and arts and culture.
It鈥檚 a good start. More events are needed to keep the discussion going, with the aim of building support for a structured study, conducted by the province. If actions don鈥檛 follow the words, there鈥檒l be a lot of wandering around in the wilderness with no particular destination in mind.
鈥淲e will be doing a governance study,鈥� Coralee Oakes, minister of community, sport and cultural development, said after the election. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be hard work. It鈥檚 going to be complex. It鈥檚 going to be very, very difficult, but we鈥檙e committed to doing that.鈥�
Oakes said staff and resources would be provided to communities interested in studying amalgamation.
The provincial budget made no mention of funding for regional amalgamation. The ministry鈥檚 service plan says it would 鈥渟upport communities in assessing/changing local government structure by contributing to a shared understanding about the facts and implications of proposed restructuring.鈥�
The issue needs more than support, it needs leadership, and that leadership should come from the province. Leaving it to the municipalities is not likely to result in much visible progress.
Just look at the variety of referendum questions. Some were clear 鈥� do you favour studying the issue further? 鈥� but Saanich鈥檚 question was so ambiguous that almost any conclusion could be drawn from it.
On the other hand, Oak Bay鈥檚 question was straightforward 鈥� too much so: 鈥淎re you in favour of the District of Oak Bay being amalgamated into a larger regional municipality?鈥� 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?
And yet, 38 per cent of Oak Bay residents still said yes. It would be interesting to see what they would have said had they been asked about studying the issue.
The process cannot happen without community conversations and other public input, but it needs the leadership of an entity not directly involved.
David Screech, mayor of View Royal, which did not have an amalgamation question on the ballot, got it right when he said any study of regional governance should be done by a 鈥渃ompletely neutral third party.鈥�
鈥淵ou鈥檇 need to set out terms of reference of exactly what it is we鈥檙e trying to accomplish,鈥� he said.
Saanich Mayor Richard Atwell, too, is on the right track with his suggestion that the next logical step is for Capital Regional District board members to vote on sending a formal request for the province to lead an amalgamation study.
Premier Christy Clark says the government won鈥檛 force amalgamation on any municipality 鈥� which the Community Charter doesn鈥檛 allow, in any case 鈥� but the province should not duck its responsibility by hiding behind the charter or any other legislation. It should lead a process aimed at presenting voters with a range of reasonable possibilities.
