Amalgamation talks heat up for Lunenburg County
'At the end of the day, the time has come,' says Mayor David Walker
The mayor of Bridgewater is making the case for a form of amalgamation in Lunenburg County, saying it's time to make changes before the municipalities in the area run into financial trouble.
"Things are not dire yet," said David Walker. "This is the time to think about them, when we're not pinned into a corner."
Walker refers to the process as "the A-word" and knows it can be an unpopular idea, especially among politicians. But he says there are too many elected officials in the current set up.
"At the end of the day, the time has come," he said.
Walker says discussions need to start now to start merging services in order to avoid a situation like Springhill, where the council shocked many people by voting to dissolve because it couldn't keep up with the mounting debt in 2014.
Identity issue
Walker says many people fear the loss of the identity of their community if a regional government is formed. But he points to Cape Breton Regional Municipality and Halifax Regional Municipality, where people still identify with local communities within the municipalities.
"The fears are there, but I don't think they're reality. It's people who are uneasy about what the future will hold. People need to take a leap of faith," he said.
"I'm sure the Town of Bridgewater will be the Town of Bridgewater in 30 years, whether it's as a standalone community or part of a larger region."
Starting from scratch
Walker isn't alone with his beliefs. Seven locals have formed their own group, called Now Lunenburg County, and they've spent months talking about how to invigorate the region.
"I think the public is perhaps ahead of the rest of us. I think they're ready for the conversation," said Lynn Hennigar. She's a member of the group and serves as a councillor in Mahone Bay. She believes the politicians are the ones dragging their heels.
The group Now Lunenburg County was inspired by the Ivany report, which warned that municipal governments in Nova Scotia will feel the crunch of declining revenues because of a decline in the population.
Hennigar and her colleagues have spent months surveying people in the community, working on a report that looks to the region's future.
"If we started from scratch, what could it look like? How would people be represented? What kind of services could it provide?" she asks.
She says this is an opportunity to take the time to get it right.
"At the moment, the route to amalgamation or unification is really only one way, one path. So you can join a rural municipality if you're a town. I'm personally not convinced that that's the best path. I think that this is really an opportunity for us to really look at an imagine what we could be."
Now Lunenburg County says it will release its report soon, in hopes that it will get people in the region talking about what kind of government they want in time for the 2016 municipal elections.