Antigonish residents argue county had 'no legal authority' to ask for amalgamation

Antigonish residents have had their day in court to fight efforts by the town and county to amalgamate.

More than 100 people gathered outside the Antigonish Supreme Court on Friday and packed into the courtroom to support three residents in their case against the county.

Last October, both councils voted to request that the provincial government bring in special legislation to dissolve the town and consolidate under the Municipality of the County of Antigonish's existing name. 

"We believe firmly that the council had no legal authority to ask the province to write special legislation to consolidate, and we base that on the Municipal Government Act, which is very clear," said claimant Anne-Marie Long after the hearing.

"We've always said we're not opposed to amalgamation, we're opposed to your process. Give us the information and then let's have a vote on it."

On Friday, the claimants' lawyer, Donald Macdonald, argued that the Municipal Government Act lays out only two options on how the process should go. One involves making a request to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, while the other involves a public vote that could then see a request go to the municipal affairs minister.

But Long said both of those options require a study, which has not been done.

Long and other members of the group Let Antigonish Decide have been calling for a public vote on the issue, but a plebiscite was at one point voted down by town council.

The town voted 4-3 in favour of merging, while the county voted 5-3 in favour. Two of the county councillors recused themselves over concerns about possible conflicts of interest.

On Friday, county lawyers Rob Grant and John Shanks of Stewart McKelvey argued that municipalities have broad powers under the current legislation, and the vote was legal.

They said just because the request for special legislation isn't in the current act doesn't mean it's illegal, and other municipalities have taken this exact approach in two other cases.

The Town of Windsor and District of West Hants merged into the West Hants Regional Municipality in 2020, while the Town of Liverpool and the Municipality of Queens County amalgamated into the Region of Queens in 1996.

Decision to come later

Long said the West Hants example doesn't fit, because the process began there when residents went to the UARB to ask for an amalgamation and pushed for the move. It was a unique situation, she said, in which two of the three municipalities in that county wanted to join to become one region — but the act only allowed for every municipality in a county to be involved. 

In a news release on Friday, the county said it "remains confident in its decision to request consolidation with the Town of Antigonish and looks forward to working with the Town to move this process forward."

Justice Timothy Gabriel has reserved his decision, which will be released at a later date.

Whatever happens in court, Long said their group is still calling on the province to refuse to bring in legislation allowing the amalgamation.

The province did not bring the issue forward during the spring legislature session and in March, county Warden Owen McCarron said he was unsure where that leaves things.