City of Victoria and District of Saanich officials will decide this week if a question on exploring the costs and benefits of amalgamation between the two municipalities should be included on Oct. 20 municipal election ballots.
A joint meeting in which Victoria and Saanich councils will discuss the issue will take place on Tuesday, June 26, at 7 p.m.
Councillors will decide whether to include the following question on ballots in the next election: “Are you in favour of establishing a Citizen’s Assembly to explore the costs, benefits and disadvantages of the amalgamation between the District of Saanich and the City of Victoria?”
If they decide to pursue the question, councils would then co-develop and disseminate educational information ahead of the election.
Mayor Lisa Helps and Mayor Richard Atwell would also write a joint letter to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs informing of their intent to pose a ballot question and sharing the wording of the referendum question.
Support for amalgamation previously shown to be high
The last time amalgamation came up at the ballot box was during the 2014 municipal elections, in which Victoria and Saanich sampled public opinion around the issue.
A question posed to Victoria voters, “Are you in favour of reducing the number of municipalities in Greater Victoria through amalgamation?,” received 18,351 votes in favour—80% of the ballot.
Saanich voters, meanwhile, were asked, “Do you support Council initiating a community-based review of the governance structures and policies with Saanich and our partnerships within the Region?” 88.5% voted in favour.
Following the 2014 election, Saanich council established a Governance Review Citizen Advisory Committee to undertake that review. The committee reported to council on Oct. 23, 2017 with 30 recommendations—one of which to establish a joint committee meeting between the two municipalities.
A full report provided to council is available here.
