Victoria councillors call on province to lead amalgamation study
Times Colonist
February 13, 2015
Victoria will formally call on the province to undertake a study on amalgamation.
Councillors agreed Thursday to write to the province and ask that the minister of community, sport and cultural development meet with Mayor Lisa Helps to discuss the issue.
Helps said that with the legislature sitting, the timing is right.
“The ministers are here and I think we can show real leadership as the capital city to say: Let’s be the first out of the gate with our letter and the meeting with the minister.”
Eight of the 13 municipalities in the capital region included a question related to amalgamation on the Nov. 15 election ballot. While each question was different — for example, Central Saanich, North Saanich and Sidney asked about amalgamating just those three municipalities, while Saanich did not use the word amalgamation at all — the majority of voters favoured some kind of study or movement toward amalgamation.
The question on the Victoria ballot was: “Are you in favour of reducing the number of municipalities in Greater Victoria through amalgamation?” There were 18,351 Yes votes and 4,601 No votes.
“This, I think, is about giving effect to a fairly sizable segment of public opinion as reflected in the plebiscite, not only in the city, but elsewhere,” Coun. Ben Isitt said. “So I think to give input to the province is the appropriate way to proceed.”
Coun. Pam Madoff said she would have been more comfortable if Amalgamation Yes, the pro-amalgamation lobby group, had called itself Amalgamation Maybe.
“It would have been really helpful because it did seem that there was a foregone conclusion and I felt that by even attending the meetings it presumed that I’d made a decision.”
A surprisingly high percentage of the population indicated on different ballot questions in November that they wanted discussion on the issue, said Coun. Chris Coleman.
“So it’s now our responsibility to assist the province in leading that discussion,” he said. “I think this is the right thing to do.”
Councillors agreed the study should be based on 10 guidelines put forward by the Amalgamation Yes lobby group.
Study guidelines
The proposed guidelines approved by Victoria councillors are:
• The study team must report to the minister and must be instructed to carry out its task in a timely manner.
• When evaluating each option, consider residential, commercial, urban and rural interests.
The study must also:
• Be inclusive and engage all the municipal agencies and First Nations in the capital region.
• Examine the existing municipal structure, including the Capital Regional District, in the capital region and recommend changes to achieve good municipal governance across the region, including: participation, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness.
• Have a process that includes opportunities for the public to interact with the study team during the preparation of the report.
• Consider more than one option for municipal boundaries in the capital region.
• Evaluate the economic, social, environmental and cultural merits of each option.
• Include a plan for public meetings to discuss the recommendations of the report.
• Prescribe timelines for implementation of the study.
• Identify implementation issues that need to be resolved.
© Copyright Times Colonist
Times Colonist
February 13, 2015
Victoria will formally call on the province to undertake a study on amalgamation.
Councillors agreed Thursday to write to the province and ask that the minister of community, sport and cultural development meet with Mayor Lisa Helps to discuss the issue.
Helps said that with the legislature sitting, the timing is right.
“The ministers are here and I think we can show real leadership as the capital city to say: Let’s be the first out of the gate with our letter and the meeting with the minister.”
Eight of the 13 municipalities in the capital region included a question related to amalgamation on the Nov. 15 election ballot. While each question was different — for example, Central Saanich, North Saanich and Sidney asked about amalgamating just those three municipalities, while Saanich did not use the word amalgamation at all — the majority of voters favoured some kind of study or movement toward amalgamation.
The question on the Victoria ballot was: “Are you in favour of reducing the number of municipalities in Greater Victoria through amalgamation?” There were 18,351 Yes votes and 4,601 No votes.
“This, I think, is about giving effect to a fairly sizable segment of public opinion as reflected in the plebiscite, not only in the city, but elsewhere,” Coun. Ben Isitt said. “So I think to give input to the province is the appropriate way to proceed.”
Coun. Pam Madoff said she would have been more comfortable if Amalgamation Yes, the pro-amalgamation lobby group, had called itself Amalgamation Maybe.
“It would have been really helpful because it did seem that there was a foregone conclusion and I felt that by even attending the meetings it presumed that I’d made a decision.”
A surprisingly high percentage of the population indicated on different ballot questions in November that they wanted discussion on the issue, said Coun. Chris Coleman.
“So it’s now our responsibility to assist the province in leading that discussion,” he said. “I think this is the right thing to do.”
Councillors agreed the study should be based on 10 guidelines put forward by the Amalgamation Yes lobby group.
Study guidelines
The proposed guidelines approved by Victoria councillors are:
• The study team must report to the minister and must be instructed to carry out its task in a timely manner.
• When evaluating each option, consider residential, commercial, urban and rural interests.
The study must also:
• Be inclusive and engage all the municipal agencies and First Nations in the capital region.
• Examine the existing municipal structure, including the Capital Regional District, in the capital region and recommend changes to achieve good municipal governance across the region, including: participation, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness.
• Have a process that includes opportunities for the public to interact with the study team during the preparation of the report.
• Consider more than one option for municipal boundaries in the capital region.
• Evaluate the economic, social, environmental and cultural merits of each option.
• Include a plan for public meetings to discuss the recommendations of the report.
• Prescribe timelines for implementation of the study.
• Identify implementation issues that need to be resolved.
© Copyright Times Colonist
