Toronto a bad example for amalgamation

Black Press (Newsgroup) Letters
December 16, 2011



Re: Toronto shows amalgamation flaws, Letters, Dec. 9, 2011.

Yet another letter writer makes the absurd comparison with Toronto to argue against amalgamation in Greater Victoria.

Toronto was already a city many times bigger than all of Greater Victoria before it amalgamated with its suburban neighbours.

To quote facts and figures from a mega city as though they have any relevance to the pros and cons of retaining the artificial borders in a region of only 350,000 is meaningless.

A more realistic comparison is with Halifax, which in 1996 amalgamated with Dartmouth, Bedford to form a single municipality of similar size to Greater Victoria.

As a result it is administered by a mayor and just 23 councillors, has a unified police force, and is represented on the Big City Mayors Caucus.

Victoria itself, a provincial capital, has no such voice on this important body as it is regarded as having a population of only 78,000.

Furthermore, the evidence does not support the writer’s claim that communities would lose their identity under amalgamation.

Victoria itself already comprises a number of different neighbourhoods, each with their own character. Just as Fernwood, James Bay, Cook Street Village and others do not need separate mayors and councils to preserve their distinctiveness within the City of Victoria, neither would Oak Bay and Esquimalt lose their unique identities in an amalgamated Greater Victoria.

John Weaver
Victoria