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The Manitoba Co-operator | February 20, 2014
COUNTRY CROSSROADS CON N EC T I NG RU R A L FA M I L I E S
The music is just starting Some are just over the 1,000 mark, but more mergers likely ahead, say some leaders New mergers
Loyalty to local identity is one reason why municipalities are loath to amalgamate. photo: By Lorraine Stevenson co-operator staff
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he Village of Waskada was the tiniest municipality in Manitoba before amalgamation and is still in close contention for the title — even with its new partner. Its combined population post-merger with its surrounding RM of Brenda will now be 652. That’s well below the 1,000-person threshold stipulated by the province’s Municipal Modernization Act. Some new municipalities have been allowed a combined population of less than 1,000 so long as they’ve amalgamated with at least one partner, according to a provincial spokesperson. But Duncan Stewart, reeve of the RM of Brenda, supported amalgamation and hoped to see much bigger entities emerge. He now accuses the province of breaking its own rules. The end result he predicts will not be substantially different than what existed before, he said. “One of the main reasons they wanted us to amalgamate in the first place was to make larger municipalities,” he said. “But it’s made very little change as far as we’re concerned.” Brenda-Waskada isn’t the only amalgamated entity that remains small. At just 629 persons, the new Municipality of Ethelbert, with a combined RM and village population will be even smaller than Brenda-Waskada. Other mergers recently approved by the province are just barely over 1,000. St e w a r t s a y s t h e y t r i e d u n s u ccessfully to bring a third partner into Brenda-Waskada. But as just a twosome, there’s been “no practical change in the governance of the municipality,” he said. The two entities have long shared an office and joint staff.
More to come
But this is just the beginning of mergers, predict other municipal leaders who’ve been on the amalgamation road awhile.
lorraine stevenson
“I honestly think we’ll all be getting bigger. It just may take another 15 or 20 years,” said Don Yanick, mayor of the Municipality of Shoal Lake, which was produced from a voluntary merger in 2011 between the RM and town. They’re now taking in the RM of Strathclair to become the RM of Yellowhead. “I think the first step is the towns and rurals amalgamating first,” Yanick said. “And that’s all happening now.” Many of the new town-RM combinations to date are calling themselves ‘municipality of’ and opting for hyphenated names of the former entities. Part of that is about holding on to identity, added Yanick. But some are choosing entirely new names. Lawrence and Ochre River will form the RM of Lakeshore. Strathcona and Riverside are combining to form the RM of Prairie Lakes. The RM of Grassland will be a larger municipality formed between the RMs of Whitewater, Cameron and town of Hartney. Whitewater Reeve Blair Woods said leaders with the three councils have only reluctantly agreed to go forward — “we had no choice,” — but in discussions also agreed not to hyphenate names to reflect the past. “Everyone agreed if we were forced to do something new we’d try and do something totally new, with a new name,” Woods said. They’re also loath to close municipal offices or lay off staff — a sentiment expressed by many local leaders. Their plan is to keep the Whitewater office open in Minto as well as have an office in Hartney, Woods said. “They’re both very important to the community.” Wo o d s a d d e d i t w i l l b e u p t o Grassland’s new council for Grassland after January 1, 2015 to forge ahead with any further changes. “Everything will be reviewed in the years ahead,” he said.
Public opinion
Time will also give rural Manitobans a chance to see how they are affected by amalgamation. Woods said they’ve heard “the whole gamut” of opinions about what they should do as they began to broach the amalgamation subject with residents. “We’ve heard everything from ‘don’t go with this RM or that RM’ to ‘don’t do anything’ to ‘move ahead,’ he said. There hasn’t been negative feedback about forming a new municipality between Cameron and Hartney, but then most know there’s not much point protesting, he said. “This (provincial) government passed the legislation,” he said. “There’s not much we can do.” Yanick said public sentiment expressed at a Shoal Lake ratepayers’ meeting about joining with Strathclair was definitely in favour of getting larger. “People said it just made sense,” he said, adding that residents of the area already share a health centre, a school division and credit union.
Court ruling awaited
Meanwhile, other councils who have plans on the books say they’re waiting to see what a judge rules next month when the Association of Manitoba Municipalities takes the province to court. The AMM declared in December that it would challenge the implementation of the Municipal Modernization Act and has a court date set for March 10. Denis Carter, reeve of RM of Woodworth said his council complied with the legislation and has put forward a plan to merge with neighbouring RM of Wallace and the Village of Elkhorn. But they’re awaiting the court ruling before they get into the details. “I think that if we (AMM) were to win the court case, I’d go back to our public, and have another town hall meeting and see if we wanted to retain our municipality the way it was,” he said. Rural Municipality of Harrison is one of five municipalities named in the legal action.
• Rural Municipality (RM) of Sifton and Oak Lake forming the new RM of Sifton, • RMs of Strathcona and Riverside forming the new RM of Prairie Lakes, • Village of Glenboro and RM of South Cypress forming the new Municipality of Glenboro-South Cypress, • RM of McCreary and Village of McCreary forming the new Municipality of McCreary, • RMs of Minto and Odanah forming the new RM of Minto-Odanah, • RMs of Langford and North Cypress forming the new Municipality of North Cypress-Langford, • Town of Ste. Rose du Lac and RM of Ste. Rose forming the new Municipality of Ste. Rose, • Town of Boissevain and RM of Morton forming the new Municipality of Boissevain-Morton, • Town of Erickson and RM of Clanwilliam forming the new Municipality of Clanwilliam-Erickson, • RM of Ethelbert and Village of Ethelbert forming the new Municipality of Ethelbert, • RM of Brenda and the Village of Waskada forming the new Municipality of Brenda-Waskada, • RMs of Shellmouth-Boulton and Silver Creek forming the new RM of Riding Mountain West, • Town of Treherne and RM of South Norfolk forming the new Municipality of Norfolk-Treherne, • Town of Rivers and RM of Daly forming the new Riverdale Municipality, • RM of Rossburn and Town of Rossburn forming the new Rossburn Municipality, • RM of Russell, Village of Binscarth and Town of Russell forming the new Municipality of Russell-Binscarth, • Village of Winnipegosis and RM of Mossey River forming the new RM of Mossey River, • RM of North Norfolk and Town of MacGregor forming the new Municipality of North Norfolk, and • RMs of Lawrence and Ochre River forming the new RM of Lakeshore.
Reeve Murray Davies said the province’s plan for them was to form a super-municipality including Harrison with the RMs of Park, Blanchard, Saskatchewan, Town of Rapid City and Strathclair. Harrison and Park have agreed to merge, said Davies, adding the new entity will have a combined population of nearly 4,000 including summer residents. “We had to put a plan in,” said Davies. “If we didn’t put one in by Feb. 1 we’d have been breaking the law. But we’ve stated that that (plan) is subject to the legal action.” The province said in early February that a total of 85 municipalities with populations under 1,000 are required to submit plans for amalgamation. It has named 19 mergers among 36 municipalities as being near completion. A 30 per cent reduction in the number of municipalities outside Winnipeg is expected after all municipalities have submitted their merger plans. lorraine@fbcpublishing.com