Allow Antigonish plebiscite
I see the mayor and warden of Antigonish had an op-ed in The Chronicle Herald on April 28 full of misinformation regarding councils making the decision to amalgamate town and county.
They are saying that the reason why a plebiscite is not good is because there would be low turnout for voters. There is no evidence of that.
Firstly, they have no idea how many people would vote; secondly, both councils were elected with less than a 35 per cent turnout for municipal elections last time in 2020 (not exactly a high turnout); and thirdly, and most importantly, they are still not listening to over 70 per cent of the residents who want a plebiscite and only 14 per cent who are in favour of not having a plebiscite.
There were 4,000 signatures for a plebiscite. There will be a high turnout if there is a plebiscite, with much more than they garnered to be elected as councils.
But the warden and mayor seem to not care what the residents want. They still do not get that the large majority of residents of the town and county of Antigonish want to vote.
It is not about whether town and county consolidate. If the residents vote to consolidate, then democracy prevails. End of story.
No council should have the power to speak for amalgamation without the residents voting.
Tim Houston stated that
“all jurisdictions should have the right to vote on merging.” That was on Feb. 27, 2018, in the House of Assembly, when then-premier Stephen McNeil wanted Pictou to amalgamate or consolidate without a vote in Houston’s Pictou riding.
That was when Houston was in opposition. Did he change his mind since getting elected premier?
Municipal Affairs Minister John Lohr said that there would be no special legislation just over a month ago, and we took this government at their word. Are they now changing their minds, as the warden and mayor are still in contact with Lohr’s office and insinuating that at the fall session or later that the provincial government will introduce the special legislation that is required to consolidate with no vote from county or town residents.