Victoria, Saanich join on amalgamation question

Victoria and Saanich councils will hold a joint committee meeting to craft a question on amalgamation to be put on ballots for the Oct. 20 municipal elections.

As their Saanich counterparts did, Victoria councillors unanimously endorsed holding the meeting.

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps and Saanich Mayor Richard Atwell recommended their councils hold the meeting after having met with B.C. Ministry of Municipal Affairs officials to discuss what steps would be needed to set the stage for amalgamation discussions.

The idea is to kick-start a citizens assembly process to explore the pros and cons of a possible amalgamation.

“It’s not pro-amalgamation. It’s not anti-amalgamation. It’s to deliberate about shared values, shared histories, shared goals, challenges, differences and to come up with recommendations on how to best proceed,” Helps said.

“I strongly feel this is the way to go.”

The first step in that process, Helps said, is to hold the joint meeting and decide on a ballot question both municipalities can place on their ballots.

In their joint report, Atwell and Helps said the advice they received from ministry staff is that any process leading to amalgamation should include these elements: • Must be thorough and objective from start to finish. • Public engagement is key. • It’s the role of local government with experienced consultants to design, host and steward the process. • An independent technical analysis should be done in tandem to analyze costs and benefits.

Helps said a ballot question could read something like: “Do you support spending time and resources to explore the costs and benefits of the amalgamation of Saanich and Victoria through a citizens assembly and technical analysis?”

Coun. Marianne Alto said the process does not anticipate any outcome. “I think this is a very sensible way forward. It’s easy. It’s transparent. It’s very clear on what it is that we’re hoping to do,” Alto said.