‘Leave us alone’
Residents outline concerns over new Municipal Government Act; official on hand to list benefits of new act
“I want them to recognize small communities. Don’t try to make chicken soup out of feathers. I’m not Charlottetown; I don’t have thousands of people. I want to remain as a small community. I’m viable. I’m able to do what the community wants.” Dave Pizio
A St. Louis resident is speculating that the new Municipal Government Act (MGA) will be problematic for P.E.I.’s smaller municipalities.
“It’s going to cause a problem. We’re going to see a lot of smaller communities dissolve,” said Larry Drouin Thursday after listening to Greenmount-Montrose Community Improvement Committee chairman Dave Pizio, deliver an information session about the act.
The new MGA has already received royal assent in the provincial legislature, but its proclamation is on hold awaiting regulations to be built into its framework.
“I believe the MGA, the way it’s coming down, is going to financially cripple and take away our small communities,” Pizio told the 25 people in attendance, most of whom were from small municipalities and unincorporated communities in West Prince.
Ron Rayner, chairman of the recently expanded Community of Bedeque and Area, suggested it might prove difficult to get a full slate of candidates in his municipality for the full-day municipal elections that the act has already mandated for P.E.I. in November 2018.
“I think it’s going to be a very, very tough road to hoe,” said Rayner, following the meeting.
“Keep it as it is alone.”
Christine MacKinnon, acting director, Municipal Affairs and Provincial Planning, sat in on the presentation and commended Pizio on presenting the complex material. and leave us
However, she also offered some clarifications. The mandatory services under the new act are emergency planning, with a three-year window for implementation, and land use planning, with communities afforded five years to get that plan in place. She also listed some benefits of municipal governments — a local voice and a means to apply for federal infrastructure funding.
In addition, MacKinnon noted seven municipalities in eastern P.E.I. are considering amalgamation – pooling the money they’re spending now on administration, which is almost the same budget as the Town of Cornwall.
“And you start to say, ‘what could we do together, if we made plans together, instead of competing with each other for things in our region?’”
For a new municipality to be created, she said, they would be encouraged to come together with enough capacity to provide base services
“The legislation allows any existing municipalities to continue,” MacKinnon said, “but, over the next few years, the requirements and the expectations of those existing municipalities will increase.”
Pizio said the new act will require municipalities, regardless of size, to maintain at least 20 office hours a week.
Processing building permits would be a new service downloaded onto the municipality. He wonders why a CIC would need to take on that service when Access P.E.I. staff would still be responsible for service in unincorporated area.
“I want them to recognize small communities. Don’t try to make chicken soup out of feathers. I’m not Charlottetown; I don’t have thousands of people. I want to remain as a small community. I’m viable. I’m able to do what the community wants,” Pizio insisted.