Policy & Positions Manual
Policy Priority Area - Reform of Local Government
A Provincial Role in Municipal Amalgamations (2009)
There are a number of municipalities across the province whose borders are immediately adjacent and whose residents conduct their business and personal lives with fluidity across municipalities. Nonetheless, these neighbouring municipalities are individual units and are autonomous entities under the Local Government Act. Though some argue there is advantage to maintaining separate municipalities, there are instances where it would certainly be more advantageous for immediately adjacent municipalities to amalgamate. Emerging thoughts in this regard are that immediately adjacent urbanized municipalities may function better as a single unit.(1))
Section 279 of the Community Charter outlines the procedures for the amalgamation of existing municipalities. In short, the procedure requires a referendum question of residents with positive support of more than 50% of votes. The referendum procedure is to be instigated by the respective municipalities, though it can also be required by the provincial minister responsible on the minister's own initiative, if the minister is of the opinion that those persons should, in the public interest, be incorporated into a new municipality.(2)
The Community Charter requirement for the question of municipal amalgamation to be self-generated is perpetuating a growing problem of inefficiencies in urban centres. Fractured governance has become entrenched in municipal self-interest and may be creating unfortunate circumstances for urban centres, as exemplified below.
The federal government released its 2009 budget on January 27th of that year. The budget introduced $4 billion of infrastructure investment funds to be allocated through partnerships with provincial and municipal governments. While the successful acquisition of infrastructure dollars and resulting projects would supply immediate economic stimulus through household sustaining employment opportunities, the goal of the chamber is to have the selected projects also provide longer term benefits through lasting economic impact. Generally those types of projects are regional in nature and require a cooperation and partnership not always found in smaller neighbouring municipalities. The danger is that millions of federal dollars will be poorly invested due to fractured municipal structures and the inability of the smaller entities to come to the table with large scale, regional projects that provide lasting economic ripple effects.
Another pertinent example of inefficiency is seen where the application of federal funding formulas come into play. These funding formulas are generally population-based using municipal boundaries. Yet challenges addressed through the funding programs, such as homelessness and transportation, are in reality regional issues in areas with immediately adjacent municipalities. Fractured municipalities in urban settings lose out on available funding to adequately address important social issues on a large scale and/or often fail to co-operate in the effective implementation of regionally beneficial investments of federal or federal/provincial dollars.
Municipal amalgamations, to be fair, have been met with mixed reviews in Canada. Those that have been extensively highlighted in academic writings feature the outcomes in Winnipeg, Halifax, Ottawa, Quebec, Toronto, and other Ontario and Quebec settings. While the study of these outcomes is most useful, the relatively or extremely short timeframes of each of these examples, with amalgamation dates ranging from 1972 to 2003, is problematic. It is not surprising that outcomes of these examples are evidencing the challenges of significant organizational change.
The Vancouver experience of amalgamation may be more useful to examine. In 1929, Point Grey and South Vancouver amalgamated with the City of Vancouver, making it overnight the third largest city in Canada. Today the amalgamated area is clearly a cohesive unit with distinct neighbourhood characteristics. Though research on the early days of the transition is not as readily available as more recent examples, one could reason that this area also went through significant organizational change. It may be that the positive outcomes associated with amalgamated municipalities need a longer time to become established. Short term pain for long term gain, as the saying goes.
The growth of our urban areas in the province, their regional efficiencies and their international competitiveness are important issues to the continued evolution of the province. As municipalities continue to grow and butt into each other, and as their citizens’ work and leisure lives flow across boundaries, it becomes important to re-examine effective governance models. While some municipal governments may be willing to examine that issue on their own and seek long-term regional improvements, others will never seriously consider the question due to self-interest. Where municipalities fail to examine the greater community and business benefits of amalgamation, the Province should not be hampered from taking assertive action on amalgamation concerns where they believe it to be in the best interest of the province as a whole if municipalities fail to examine the possibility
THE CHAMBER RECOMMENDS
That the Provincial Government amend section 279 of the Community Charter to include a third option for instigating municipal amalgamation; that being amalgamation by order of the province.
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