Province shuts down plan for Antigonish amalgamation

In the face of mounting criticism and following a tense public meeting with the premier earlier this week, the Nova Scotia government has shelved a piece of legislation that would have led to municipal consolidation in Antigonish County.

"I'm so excited," Anne-Marie Long, a member of the citizens' group opposing the proposed merger, told reporters at Province House after learning of the decision.

"It's been over two years of solid work by a group of people to fight this — because there was no planning done to do this, none at all, and it was rushed through. The people were not consulted."

Long and others have criticized the process, which was initiated following votes by councils for the Town of Antigonish and Municipality of the County of Antigonish. But residents weren't given an opportunity to vote on the matter, critics said, and information was lacking about how the merger would affect things such as taxes and services.

Amendments not enough to address concerns

In response to those concerns, Municipal Affairs Minister John Lohr introduced an amendment to the legislation last week that would have required an analysis by the Utility and Review Board before the merger could proceed.

Lohr told reporters on Thursday that the decision to shelve the bill outright followed a public meeting in Antigonish earlier this week that Premier Tim Houston attended. The meeting drew about 500 people.

Lohr said his government respects the vote by the two councils, but they could not ignore mounting opposition from the communities and evidence that there wasn't clear "broad-based" support for the merger.

In a statement, Antigonish Mayor Laurie Boucher and Warden Owen McCarron said they learned of the provincial government's decision following a meeting with Houston on Thursday morning.

"We are extremely disappointed and disheartened," they said.

"We followed the process that was laid out for us and we trusted the Houston government to respect the decisions of our respective councils and pass the special legislation. We firmly believe the people of Antigonish would have been better served under the leadership of one municipal unit."

The Municipal Government Act includes provisions outlining how amalgamation is supposed to happen, including the requirement for public consultation. But Lohr could not say why that process was not followed in this case.

"In hindsight, that's a good question. So I think that we will be looking at that process."

Lohr said one of the strengths of his government is its willingness to listen to the public and change course as required.

Opposition points to electoral considerations

Opposition leaders argued that changing course in this case had less to do with listening to the public and more to do with worrying about the electoral future of cabinet ministers Michelle Thompson and Greg Morrow, the Progressive Conservative MLAs for Antigonish and Guysborough-Tracadie, respectively.

"It's really been an absolute mess from the beginning and all of that could have been avoided had they just done their work in advance, met with people and put themselves in the position where they could answer the most simple questions," Liberal Leader Zach Churchill told reporters.

"They hid from this community for two years until the 11th hour, absolutely hid and wouldn't even engage with them."

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said if the Tories were concerned about anything other than electoral success, they would not have tabled the bill in the first place.

"I think that they were very concerned that they had two cabinet members whose futures were very publicly and clearly implicated by the folks who were upset by this process. I think the premier saw that for himself when he went down there."

Chender said the Municipal Government Act makes clear the process that's supposed to be followed for amalgamation to take place and that process was ignored.

"And now they're saying, 'Oh, well maybe we should have public input.' I think this is a government that only wants to govern by shortcuts, doesn't do their homework and won't stick with a decision, and this is part of a long pattern of that."

Long expects that when voters go to the polls this fall to select municipal representatives "it's going to be a one-issue election," with people voting for candidates based on their stance on amalgamation.