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THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1998. PAGE 9.
Letter to the editor
New arrival share views on amalgamation
THE EDITOR,
I have been reading with interest
the stories and editorials
concerning amalgamation that have
appeared in the paper lately. After
some consideration I decided that
an outsides comments might have
some validity during the current
debate.
As a recent arrival in the area
with no knowledge of which towns
or townships have a history of co-
operation or antagonism and no
understanding of historical and
commercial ties, my interest is in
the philosophy that drives the
discussion.
One hears the siren call of
increased efficiency and reduced
costs. The explanation of those
things seldom goes father,
however, than indistinct comments
about administrative savings and
the avoidance of duplication. The
same 'reasons' by the way, that
were provided to justify lumping
miscellaneous school boards
together and then gelding them.
Recent provincial history tends to
clearly indicate that any
'efficiencies' and savings accrue to
the provincial government, not the
local councils or taxpayers. In the
Continued from page 2
on the west edge of King Street.
***
Council supported a motion from
Richmond Hill asking the province
to reject Bill 79. Stating that it is
the worst piece of legislation she
has ever seen, White said, "I doubt
this will do us any good, but we
have to go on record somewhere
saying we oppose this."
The bill, White said, defeats the
whole purpose of fair market value
assessment and is coming up
against strong opposition from a
number of groups including the
Association of Municipalities of
Ontario. "If this government fails to
listen to all these groups then we
1970s when a previous
Conservative administration
introduced regional government
small communities were jammed
together with exactly the same
rationale. Traditional communities
of interest were ignored in favour
of what we can now see is the
'Walmart philosophy' - if it's bigger
it must be both better and cheaper.
But the 20 years since then have
taught us that bigger communities
undertake bigger projects and
bigger projects cost bigger bucks.
As for efficiency, I would
suggest that the larger the political
grouping the more axes that will
need to be ground and it can take a
long time to put a sharp edge on
even one axe without 15 or 20
competing for the same grindstone
Municipalities are creatures of
the provincial government. They
have few legislative guarantees or
liberties other than those a
provincial administration sees fit to
grant them. They come equipped
with weak legislative and financial
authority and large and expensive
responsibilities.
This is not an accident on the part
of provincial governments.
Municipalities provide useful
insulation for their provincial big
have a real problem with this gov-
ernment."
** *
Discussing the recent fires in the
village Councillor Mary Stretton
applauded the firefighters on the
response time. "I was watching and
from the first siren until they
reached the school it was four min-
utes."
Councillor Joe Seili, however,
said that he had been given a letter
from a resident who was concerned
about the excessive speed the fire-
fighters use when driving to the
hall.
***
A request from David Jacklin for
a light on John Street, south of the
ballpark was approved.
brother. Just as school boards can
be blamed for the problems in
education even as they are denied
the means to take corrective action
so too will the amalgamated
municipal governments become the
lightning rod for public anger over
provincial actions.
It is obvious that it was not
necessary to force amalgamation to
achieve the insulating effect that
has been there for years. What
amalgamation does is reduce the
number of players, making the
process much more 'efficient'.
Those objecting will have fewer
potential allies. The province can
more easily play one municipality
off against another without
angering a third because fewer
players in the game means there are
fewer factors to control.
The 'savings' to be achieved are
of much the same nature. When
amalgamation is over the province
will say that the biggePi
municipalities are obviously
capable of taking on more
responsibilities. Their increased
size, efficiency and tax base should
allow them to shoulder bigger
projects and raise more money — a
process that will allow the
provincial government to 'save'
taxpayers dollars and blame
someone else for collecting the
cash.
When the process is over you and
I find that our municipal
representative lives on the other
side of the county not the other side
of town. Our municipal taxes are
the same or higher.
But perhaps worst of all we all
find that one more small measure
of the control we have over our
lives slipped away during a boring
political discussion.
During a visit last year, my
mother, who has been around long
enough to see numerous 'boring
political discussions', made the
comment that people should realize
that real democracy is both messy
and expensive, not efficient and
cheap.
Maybe that too is a lesson from
history that we would do well to
remember.
David Blaney
Brussels council
supports motion