A recent poll taken on amalgamation seemed to indicate that people in the Greater Victoria area were in favour of putting the issue of amalgamation on the November ballot.
People in Sooke don’t want more government, in fact they want less. A large portion of those canvassed said they thought the CRD organization was too expensive. A lot of them said to leave well enough alone.
Amalgamation for Sooke is not a good idea. We are too far removed to benefit from any of the decisions made by an unwieldy and cumbersome bureaucracy. A big corporation, that’s what it would be, would have a hard time understanding the distinct and unique needs of Sooke.
Amalgamating the core municipalities in the Greater Victoria region makes more sense than dragging Sooke kicking and screaming into it. The issues in the inner core are vastly different than those in rural Sooke. We already have the CRD to contend with.
An amalgamation of the communities in the Westshore does make sense. Langford, Colwood, View Royal and the Highlands would make a good unified municipality. They are geographically connected and one has a hard time knowing which community they are in at the best of times. Each of them, with the exception of Langford, are small and one must ask, do they really each need mayors, councillors, fire departments and police? Of course everyone wants to hang onto their autonomy, but it can be seen as a huge drain on the taxpayers.
It shouldn’t be up to the elected officials and staff to make those decisions as they have their own best interests at heart. We are being governed to death nationally, provincially, regionally and locally. Everyone wants to tell us what to do and how to do and then tax us for it. Just say ‘no.’