I have been a resident of the Capital Regional District for just over three years and have always puzzled at the proliferation of governments to run municipal affairs.
The referendum in Victoria and Saanich on whether to explore some form of amalgamation piqued my curiosity.
In an area of 2,340 square kilometres and a population of 384,000, we have 13 municipal governments, three electoral districts and the CRD. A snapshot research effort reveals that the financial plans of all the 13 municipalities add up to $732 million or $1,900, more or less, per capita.
If you look across these municipalities, they all have a hierarchical structure doing most of the same things, with directors reporting to a chief administrative officer with as many as six people reporting to each of them doing the same or similar tasks.
If this were the corporate world, the overhead and non-value-added positions would cripple many and bankrupt others.
There are just too many politicians and too many civil servants. The cost per capita exceeds any number of small countries that have learned to do more with less.
Does this make sense?
Perhaps it is time not just to look at amalgamating Victoria and Saanich, but others around them, such as Oak Bay, Esquimalt, Colwood and Langford, and perhaps Sidney, North Saanich and Central Saanich.
Alex Currie
North Saanich
