16 replies to this topic

[TheVisionary]

A friend told me about a Greater Victoria Amalgamation petition at (http://www.lessgov.com). I joined the pettition.

We have too many municipalities, politicians, civic municipal organizations/bureaucracy. Greater Victoria is too bloated, fat, and inefficient with the many political divisions. Nothing seems to get done here unless the Provincial and/or Federal Governments ram some project, policy, or decree down our throats. The local politcal types are "deadwood", devoid of common vision and lack determination in the most near sighted ways.

The Visionary

[gumgum]

Make your poll a little less bias and I might answer it.

[m0nkyman]

If George Bush was a visionary, compassionate, humanitarian, would you vote for him?

The answer is not relevant.

[Scaper]

I vote amalgamate.

[G-Man]

I voted yes but not for all reasons stated above. I could care less about tax savings. The main reason is for the unified vision and for greater acknowedgement by the Provincial and Federal Government.

No more, " No not Victoria it only has 80 000 people"

Also I should add that I am in favour of a four municipality CRD.

West Shore - Langford, Colwood, Sooke, Metchosin, Highlands, View Royal.

Saanich - North Saanich, Sidney, Central Saanich.

Victoria - Victoria, Saanich, Esquimalt, OakBay.

Gulf Islands - All the islands (because they are unique)

[Mike K.]

I echo G-man's sentiments. It's not necessarily about the taxes -- it is indeed about the unity of the region.

[Galvanized]

I too echo the G-Man comments.

[m0nkyman]

The main reason is for the unified vision and for greater acknowedgement by the Provincial and Federal Government.

No more, " No not Victoria it only has 80 000 people"

Wouldn't it be more constructive to lobby the federal government to rationalize the way that they look at metropolitan regions?

[G-Man]

No not really one of the main problems with our city is a lack of regional coordination caused by the numerous municipalities. Plus munis are governed at Provincial level not Federal.

A great example is the now forever stalled and forgotten Regional Growth Strategy. This would have targeted certain areas for higher density while also protecting large swathes of land.

I again say it is not about saving money if all people care about is saving tax dollars than move to the states. If you care about your city and want your elected leaders to have the ability to shape the city as a whole than we need some form of amalgamation.

The problem is that everyone always focuses on the money. It will save all this money then people argue back that in all these examples it did not save money. So what! The thing is that Victoria's munis are stupidly small. You can drive across pretty much any of them in five minutes.

I would love to see how many Victoria munis fit into any one of the GVRD munis.

Amalgamation as I stated above still gives a good amount of autonomy to the regions of the CRD but consolidates them enough to make planning a real possibility.

[Scaper]

I would favor one big city. But I echo the rest of G man's thoughts.

[VicHockeyFan]

I again say it is not about saving money if all people care about is saving tax dollars than move to the states.

What is this supposed to mean?

[G-Man]

I means if you choose saving taxes over building a great city than I think your priorities are out of whack. I am not saying that taxes can't be a consideration but it is way down on the list.

[Holden West]

We already have an active amalgamation thread. Let's stick to the topic of the poll results or the lessgov.com site.

[Jeffamartin1970]

:oops: Did you know that Greater Victoria has 91 local politicians, and the core of Vancouver with twice the population has oonly 22. In the BC legislature we only have 75 MLA's. We have too many local politicians.
Go to http://www.lessgov.com to get more information,

[TheVisionary]

The main reason is for the unified vision and for greater acknowedgement by the Provincial and Federal Government.

No more, " No not Victoria it only has 80 000 people"

Wouldn't it be more constructive to lobby the federal government to rationalize the way that they look at metropolitan regions?

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Think about politically dividing up Victoria until we're all watered down and thinned out. Provincial, Federal, International organizations, institutions only deal with the "BIG LEAGUES"! 75000+ people in central city Victoria just doesn't do it, in getting some money and attention. We need all the Victoria municipalities on board. It's either we all swim or sink together.

Divided we are weak! United we are strong and can deal with others from a stronger position.

[m0nkyman]

:oops: Did you know that Greater Victoria has 91 local politicians, and the core of Vancouver with twice the population has oonly 22. In the BC legislature we only have 75 MLA's. We have too many local politicians.

So you're trying to make out greater democratic representation as a bad thing?

Less governmnet is misleading. Smaller government is better.

[G-Man]

Technically Victoria is over 80 000 people now.