Cambridge citizens do not want to have a one-tier government

Re: Waterloo Region amalgamation doesn’t look like a dead issue — Aug. 3

As soon as we have a Tory government in Ontario, Owen Lackenbauer once again rises up to champion one-tier government. Once again, I will vehemently oppose it.

Mr. Lackenbauer was once part of Citizens for Better Government, a group that, in the Mike Harris days, lobbied for removal of the municipal governments of Waterloo, Cambridge and the townships. His argument was (and still is) that this would save us money and be more efficient. I do not believe that this is true. Take, for example, when Cambridge Transit became part of Grand River Transit. Drivers and other staff who were employed by Cambridge Transit all got raises to match the higher wages of Kitchener’s transit employees. That’s just one example of what we could expect under a regional takeover. Amalgamation is about concentrating power in the hands of a few, not about cost saving or efficiency.

How would one regional council be more efficient? Whenever I attend Cambridge city council meetings, the agendas are so full with items pertaining to Cambridge alone that they often drag on longer than planned. If there was one regional council only, how would all the issues possibly be dealt with?

One-tier government will not serve the needs of the people. And whatever arguments Mr. Lackenbauer might make, the people of Cambridge have indicated very clearly time and again, that we do not want one-tier government. Imposing it would be the only way in which it could be achieved and that is not democracy.

Not that Doug Ford cares a whit about that.

Brad McEwen

Cambridge