VOTE JOHN DACOMBE FOR COURTENAY COUNCIL

Amalgamation

I lived in Ottawa when it amalgamated. It was a failure: higher taxes, reduced services, and more bureaucracy.

And in amalgamation, municipalities with good infrastructure and low debt assume the burden of municipalities with poor infrastructure and high debt.

It’s like that almost everywhere that amalgamates, so I am against it.

As a Courtenay taxpayer, do you really want to assume responsibility for Cumberland’s roads? Because you will with amalgamation.

And say goodbye to local decision-making. Cumberland, Comox, and rural areas of the CVRD would be unlikely to support amalgamation, because their voices would be drowned out by Courtenay’s far larger population. That’s why amalgamation is popular among some developers: it means whoever controls that one municipal Council controls the entire valley and can push through what they want.

The cost-effective and democratic solution to municipal duplication in the Comox Valley is with service level agreements between municipalities, where services and infrastructure are shared, and that’s already happening, largely through the Regional District.

Don’t take my word for it. Analysis from across the political spectrum says amalgamation Back East failed.