Amalgamation the answer?

Published Wednesday March 26th, 2008

BY BILL CLARKE

DALHOUSIE - "It's time to start some serious discussion of amalgamation."

Donald Arseneault, the MLA for Dalhousie-Restigouche East and Minister of Natural Resources, made that statement in an interview last week. He feels that the Town of Dalhousie and the villages of Charlo, Eel River Crossing and Balmoral would be stronger if combined. He said that they might be able to benefit from combining services like fire protection and policing.

Arseneault said that it now costs the three villages and the town about $2 million for RCMP services. He suggested that a regional police force similar to that in the Beresford area would save money and provide increased police presence. Departments like recreation, tourism and economic development are others that he believes could be improved by having one to cover the four municipalities.

He said that there are now four mayors, four administrators and a number of councillors and other municipal employees for a population of about 7,000. He said that there is a lot of duplication, which strains all the municipal budgets.

He said that the present situation "does hurt development," because if a company is interested in locating in one municipality in the riding, the others try to lure it away.

But he warned that "it has to be about more than taxes." Arseneault said that when Campbellton raises the question of amalgamation with its neighbours, it is only about taxes and the Civic Centre, and this is why the other municipalities reject the idea.

Arseneault said that while amalgamation was forced on Miramichi, most people in the area now think it was a good thing.

Arseneault said that he is prepared to ask his colleagues in cabinet to hire a consultant to examine the question.

"We can't be afraid to talk about the issue," he said.

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Well, the current situation obviously isn't working well - and it's really ignorant to think that continuing "more of the same" will improve things any. It worked well for the Miramichi and it could work very well for Dalhousie, Charlo, Balmoral, and Eel River Crossing! It doesn't mean that the numbers of municipal staff would be any less; it simply means that the area as a whole would have more power in negotiating with government and people would have to come together more effectively rather than stage territorial "wars" over governance and local business. It would also broaden the municipal tax base so closures like Bowater would be spread over a larger population.