Mayors of larger P.E.I. municipalities collaborating to tackle common issues

The mayors of Stratford, Charlottetown and Summerside have committed to co-ordinate sections of their official municipal plans to tackle similar issues they are facing.

The three mayors met in Summerside Friday.

They hope collaboration among the three, as well as Cornwall's Mayor Minerva McCourt, will allow a sharing of information and better brainstorming on issues like housing, climate change and transit.

McCourt was invited to the meeting but couldn't attend for personal reasons.

Summerside Mayor Dan Kutcher had proposed the meeting, saying it makes sense to put their heads together on problems they are all grappling with.

"It's really important to be able to have people you can lean on and call and talk to, and look at ways we can do things more efficiently and more effectively," he said. "Being able to lean on each other and try and provide more alignment across our urban municipalities here can make a real big difference."

Steve Ogden, the mayor of Stratford, called the meeting a good starting point.

"I thought it was a great opportunity to really work together to share best practices and really try to see how we can co-ordinate our programs and services to better serve our residents," he said.

Charlottetown Mayor Phillip Brown agreed.

"These commonalities are great ways of getting the discussion points on the table, and then look at ways of following up with actions. That's what we're trying to do here today," he said.

"This is just expanding our focus… our vision on where we want to work as an Island."

Housing a main focus

Stratford, Charlottetown, Cornwall and Summerside are among the fastest-growing communities in P.E.I., so housing was a major focus at the meeting.

Ogden said he hopes the collaboration will let the municipalities more effectively deal with the province's dramatic population increases.

"We're playing catch-up now, but if we can plan ahead and do it in a co-ordinated way, we can be ahead of the curve in terms of this population boom that we're experiencing," he said.

If we can make it easier for our communities to grow in a more consistent fashion, that's great.— Dan Kutcher

For his part, Kutcher said he hopes to make life easier for residents when it comes to finding a place to live.

"If we can make it easier for our communities to grow in a more consistent fashion, that's great," he said.

Ogden said the municipalities will work closely with the Federation of P.E.I. Municipalities on the issue.

He said he was happy to get the ball rolling Friday.

Another meeting with the four municipal mayors is scheduled for this October in Charlottetown.