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Regional Collaboration – a work in progress

An update on governance/amalgamation – for the latest updates – scroll to the bottom of the article

by Roger Stonebanks

Victoria city council has moved to bring to a head the issue of a provincial study of amalgamation or governance in Greater Victoria.

At a council meeting on Feb. 12, Mayor Lisa Helps was “directed” to “write and meet” Community Development Minister Coralee Oakes “requesting that the province undertake a study on regional governance” based on 10 guidelines headed “Capital Region Amalgamation Study.”

The guidelines include: the study team must report to the Minister of Community Development in a timely manner, must include all municipal agencies and First Nations in the Capital Region, “recommend changes to achieve good municipal governance across the region” and include more than one option for municipal boundaries. The complete guidelines are available on the City of Victoria website.

Voters in North Saanich and Sidney supported an amalgamation study – and Central Saanich supported a cost-benefit analysis – but restricted to the three peninsula municipalities – and only for the province to fund the study. Saanich voters supported a “governance review” (the word “amalgamation” was not mentioned) by Saanich – specifically, “Do you support Council initiating a community-based review of the governance structure and policies within Saanich and our partnerships within the Region?” Council is waiting for a staff report before starting its governance review.

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North Saanich Mayor Alice Finall told SVO that there was “some willingness” between North Saanich and Central Saanich “to pursue a joint effort to obtain funding from the province for this study (to be done by the municipalities).” She expected individual peninsula municipal councils “will make their own decisions as to how each will proceed.”

Elsewhere in the region – voters in Victoria and Langford (by 1 percent, or 13 votes) were for amalgamation; Esquimalt voted in favour of exploring it; Oak Bay was against; and View Royal, Colwood, Metchosin, Highlands, and Sooke did not hold votes.

At the provincial level, Community Development Minister Coralee Oakes said before the election, “For those communities who are interested in continuing to examine governance structures, following the election results I will make ministry staff available to provide necessary resources and support.”

After the election, Oakes posted a statement on Nov. 17, 2014, on the Community Development Ministry website which included the comment, “I remain committed to provide the support and resources required by the newly-elected local governments, once they have had an opportunity to discuss and review the results in greater detail.”  

Also on Nov. 17, 2014, she told reporters  (Victoria Times Colonist, Nov. 18, 2014), “We will be doing a governance study. It’s going to be hard work. It’s going to be complex. It’s going to be very, very difficult, but we’re committed to doing that.” 

Under BC legislation, amalgamation requires affirmative public votes within the affected municipalities and cannot be forced.  

Further to this article:

SVO asked the ministry if it would go on record confirming or denying Coralee Oakes, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development’s apparent statement to the Times Colonist on Nov 17, 2014, that it “will be doing a governance study.”  This is the response that SVO received:

“The ministry is in the process of considering how best to proceed.  As the referenda questions were quite mixed, it is important for citizens that governments think broadly about governance and services in the region.

Knowing what conversations are occurring in the community and among local governments is an important part of these considerations.

Decisions about potential next steps in terms of a study will come out of the Province’s considerations and future discussions between local governments and the Province.”

UPDATE – March 11, 2015

SIDNEY SAYS NO TO TRI-COUNCIL PARTICIPATION ON AMALGAMATION STUDY FUNDING REQUEST

A decision by Sidney council – by a single vote – on the subject of a study of amalgamation of the three peninsula municipalities has resulted in some confusion over the issue.

The minutes of Sidney council’s decision on Feb. 23, arising from an earlier tri-council meeting recommending creation of a committee to secure funding from the BC government for an amalgamation study, resulted in this 4-to-3 decision by council – “that Council deny Sidney’s participation in the creation of a Mayors Task Force and deny Sidney’s mayor participating in approaching Minister (of Community Development) Coralee Oakes with regards to funding and setting out a plan of study.” The motion was supported by Mayor Steve Price and Couns. Tim Chad, Mervyn Lougher-Goodey and Cam McLellan. Opposed were Couns. Erin Bremner, Barbara Fallot and Peter Wainwright.

Mayor Price told Saanich Voice Online in a statement that his council’s decision “is being taken out of context and council fully supports our residents’ request for an amalgamation study being conducted by the Province and looks forward to the Minister’s review of good governance in the capital region.

“The majority of council simply resolved to deny North Saanich’s request to form a Mayor’s Task force and that we weren’t prepared to approach Minister Oakes with respect to advising them how to go about their study – that’s up to the Province to determine and we can then comment once they’re developed their Terms of Reference, which was made perfectly clear to all at the tri-municipal meeting.”

Last November, Sidney residents voted “Yes” (2,566 to 1,232) in a non-binding referendum to this question, “Are you in favour of a provincially funded study to investigate the feasibility, costs and implications of amalgamating the three municipalities of the Saanich peninsula?”

Mayor Price’s comments left Central Saanich Mayor Ryan Windsor saying there was no suggested “task force” but rather that the three peninsula mayors should meet Oakes following the referendums last November. His commitment remained what voters in Central Saanich approved (3,588 to 1,489), “Should the District of Central Saanich petition the Province to fund a cost/benefit analysis of an amalgamation of Central Saanich, North Saanich and Sidney.”

He said Sidney council’s decision “leaves a lot of room for speculation” and he found it “bizarre” that Sidney did not want to approach Oakes with Central Saanich and North Saanich. “If Sidney wants to exclude themselves . .  it seems an odd move.” The next step should be for the three mayors to meet Oakes and not wait for the province, said Windsor.

Mayor Alice Finall of North Saanich has not been available for comment.

The next meetings of Central Saanich and North Saanich councils are on March 16.

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UPDATE – March 12, 2015

MINISTER CORALEE OAKES SPEAKS TO A PRIVATE AUDIENCE ON AMALGAMATION/GOVERNANCE

Community Development Minister Coralee Oakes says the provincial government has put money aside for a study of amalgamation/governance in Greater Victoria.

But she stressed at a breakfast meeting on March 10 of the Victoria-Swan Lake BC Liberal Association that she cannot dictate what the study will look like and she needs to hear from local governments – specifically mentioning she has only heard from the City of Victoria (see lead post). Oakes spoke and answered questions for 36 minutes. Here is an audio file of that presentation, posted this week on the Amalgamation Yes website.

https://soundcloud.com/user776628093/coralee-oakes-minister-of?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=email

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March 15, 2015

FURTHER AMALGAMATION UPDATES

Progress on studying the possible amalgamation of the three Saanich Peninsula municipalities has, effectively, stalled for now. Here are the positions of the three municipal councils, in their words, as shown in recently posted minutes:

NORTH SAANICH – Council said the mayors of North Saanich and Central Saanich should approach Community Development Minister Coralee Oakes “with regard to funding and setting out terms of an amalgamation study.”

SIDNEY – Council voted to “deny Sidney’s participation in the creation of a Mayor’s Task Force and deny Sidney’s Mayor participating in approaching Minister Coralee Oakes with regards to funding and setting out a plan of study.” Mayor Steve Price added in his letter to the other councils – “Council supports our residents request for an amalgamation study and looks forward to the Minister’s review of good governance in the capital region.”

CENTRAL SAANICH – Council decided, “That the matter of the amalgamation study be referred to a future committee discussion regarding the parameters of the study.”

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More updates to follow

 

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