Amalgamation of Central Saanich, North Saanich and Sidney

Peninsula Times

Amalgamation of Central Saanich, North Saanich and Sidney

By Sean McNulty

Amalgamation is a big issue not only on the Peninsula, but all throughout the Greater Victoria Region. How many municipalities is ideal to efficiently govern the 400 000 people who live on our beautiful Island?

Personally, I am a strong advocate of amalgamating the Peninsula and believe there are big benefits that the tax payer will receive from it. The most obvious being the savings from merging most of the upper level management positions within the 3 municipalities. Right now, we have 3 fire chiefs, 3 city planners, 3 payroll departments, 3 Bylaw officers, the list goes on and on. By merging these positions under one municipality, we free up monies that could be applied to such things as the Panorama Recreation Center or tax breaks. 

Plus instead of having 3 part time Mayors and 18 part time Councilors governing the region, the Peninsula could have 1 full time Mayor and 6 full time councilors doing the job. These full time politicians would represent the interests of their constituents better and we would also more qualified candidates by increasing pay. Right now, the Mayor position of Central Saanich pays around $17 000 a year. Think about that, $17 000 a year to act as the CEO of a budget of $18 million hard earned tax payer dollars.

This idea the character of neighborhoods would be destroyed and their best interests overlooked though amalgamation is ridiculous. To counter that argument, one needs to look no further than our neighbor, the Municipality of Saanich. Does the Cordova Bay’s best interests come at the expense of Cadboro Bay? Does Gordon Heads character get merged in with Tillicum? The answer is no. The reason why; character rests with the people, not the government. Unless the great people of Central Saanich, Sidney and North Saanich move away, the admirable character of these areas is here to stay.

Keep in mind, that an amalgamated Peninsula would only be 36% the size of the Municipality of Saanich.

In order for Amalgamation to move forward, the B.C. Provincial Governments website states that all 3 Municipalities would have to agree to sending it to a referendum, the process would have to be locally initiated and all sectors of the communities would have to be involved. The best part about it is that the Provincial Government has grants setup that will provide the funding to do the analysis and inform us tax payers of the efficiencies of amalgamating. So if we all cooperate, we can have a study done at no costs to us and make an informed decision, that all residents will partake in through a referendum, of the future of Municipal Government on the Peninsula.

Our Municipal Sovereignty is not something worth irrationally protecting. Instead of looking at what we can accomplish apart, why don’t we start looking at what we can accomplish together? Unity rather than division. As a current Presidential candidate has often been quoted saying, “ordinary people working together can accomplish extraordinary things”.