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AmalgamationApril01

Amalgamation April 2001

April 2001

LAND O'LAKES -NEWS & VIEWS Home

Super amalgamation of northern townships looms on the horizon!!!

By David Brison

A source close to the Conservative government, or if not close at least a keen observer, has told the News that the Mike Harris government plans to amalgamate the townships north of the 401 in Frontenac County into a large township called Kingston North. Further, if some county jurisdictional problems could be resolved, the Townships of Addington Highlands and Stone Mills from the County of Lennox and Addington might be added. The name being considered if the townships of South, Central, and North Frontenac, were joined with Addington Highlands and Stone Mills is North of the 401 in Frontenac and Lennox & Addington.

The reasons for further amalgamation are really self-evident, our source says. First there has been a great deal of amalgamation already and the results are generally positive. In fact, to most people it is business as usual, that is, the roads get ploughed, taxes go up only a minimal amount even though the government has downloaded a tremendous number of services, and the amalgamation to date seems to have been supported by the people. In fact, it seems to have revived interest in municipal politics. The voter turnouts are high above 50% in both North and Central Frontenac. People seem to like bigger government. At least we dont hear much negative stuff.

The most obvious benefit to the government is that it would save money and symbolically reinforce the lean and mean image of the provincial Tories.

The planned amalgamation would be take place this spring without extensive consultation with the public. They already discussed all of that last time and this is really only a logical extension of what happened then, our source says.

The first step in amalgamation would be for the Mayors of the existing Townships to meet and decide who amongst them would be Mayor of the new body. There wouldnt be a vote because the government wants to get this over with as soon as possible. If the Mayors cant agree on a choice, it could be decided either through a game of chance or a game of skill. Everyone knows that lots of political decisions are made on the golf course or at friendly card games and I see no reason why this process couldnt be formalized, our source says.

The Mayors could also appoint someone from outside of their ranks. I followed the excellent Frontenac Newss coverage of the last elections in North and Central Frontenac closely and I personally think that Ron Maguire, who ran against Stan Johnston in North Frontenac, would be a good choice for Mayor. Bill Mac Donald, Phil Leonard, and Stan Johnston dont have the experience of working at the administrative level with large bureaucracies that he does. They might just let the staff run things, said our informant who doesnt want to go on the record.

The Mayors who werent chosen could continue to serve, without pay, for one term as Mayors Without Portfolio. The idea would be for the Mayors Without to rove around and see what they could do to help out. For instance, Stan Johnston could act as kind of a Kingston Ambassador and grease the wheels down there. Phil Leonard, with his experience in public works, could roam the roads. From what the News has been told, Bill MacDonald might decide, if he is not chosen as the new Mayor, to go back to counting trees.

There would probably be five Councillors in the new municipality. The easiest, and possibly most effective way, to choose them would be to be to appoint the existing Deputy Mayors to Council and then have the whole kit and caboodle appoint the two remaining Councillors

The News learned of the planned amalgamation shortly before we went to press. There is a definite risk in printing this news without further verification. There is only one source, and although she was well placed (most of the information was gathered this winter from vacationing Ontario politicians in Florida), her inside information has not been verified.

However, the journalistic practice of independently verifying sources can be overlooked, our legal advisors tell us, if there is what can be described as a plausible context for the story. In other words, is there reason to believe that it could be true? Our case, if challenged in the courts would rest on the following points:

The size and speed of the amalgamation parallels what took place in rural Eastern Ontario when school Boards were joined. For example, in the Upper Canada Board of Education and the joining of Lennox & Addington with Frontenac in the new Limestone and Bedrock Board of Education.

Decision-making has already been centralized and the amalgamation would only support that trend. For instance, rural childrens services and non-profit housing are now administered through Kingston; Childrens Aid has increasingly been centralized in the Kingston office; and ambulance services have already been amalgamated.

We got this story out as quickly as we could so that you could respond before it is too late. Please let the News hear your views.

With the participation of the Government of Canada