This article was originally published by the Chronicle Herald on May 9, 2009
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1120926.html

By: Amy Smith

Premier Rodney MacDonald is promising an immediate, independent review of HRM amalgamation if  his Tories return to power.
The premier said some people are concerned their communities’ interests are being lost in the shuffle, while others are unhappy with the services they get for the taxes they pay. He said part of the review will be community consultation.

“Whether you are from Ecum Secum or you are from Hubbards or you are from the peninsula of Halifax, I believe that people deserve the opportunity to have input into that process,” he said Saturday morning at the headquarters of George Jordan, the Tory candidate for Dartmouth South-Portland Valley.

“We’re talking about a municipal unit roughly about the size of Prince Edward Island. We’re speaking about a municipality that is the largest in Atlantic Canada, the largest in Nova Scotia. It makes up a significant portion of our population and I want to make sure if you are living in a certain part of HRM that you feel that you are being represented and that your representation reflects your community.”

Mr. MacDonald said the study, which would take about a year, would be put out to tender. He would not estimate how much it would cost, except to say it would probably be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

“It won’t be an overly expensive initiative,” the premier said.

When asked if he would endorse de-amalgamation, Mr. MacDonald said he didn’t want to get ahead of the review process.

Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly said he welcomes the review, saying he hopes it will encourage all party leaders to share their ideas on how to make the municipality stronger and more competitive.

The mayor said the debate should be about more than just the notion of de-amalgamation.

"We need to look at the big picture, the big reason for being, and not just the time or the flavour of the day," he said Friday evening.

The mayor believes in a united HRM.

"I believe in our future and to piecemeal it apart, to potentially piecemeal it apart, would be harmful to many. And the cost implications, it cost us tens of millions to get here and we’re still paying some of those price elements," Mr. Kelly said.

Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil said the premier should leave discussions about amalgamation and de-amalgamation to the municipalities.

"We’re in the worst economic crisis of my lifetime and the premier is more concerned about being the mayor than being the premier," Mr. McNeil said Friday.

"He should focus on telling what he is going to do to move our province forward."

NDP Leader Darrell Dexter said he doesn’t know why Mr. MacDonald has chosen to call a review now, 13 years after the municipal merger and 10 years after the Tories formed government. As well, he said, the province recently gave Halifax its own charter.

Mr. Dexter is scratching his head over what the purpose and criteria of the review would be.

"When I talk to people throughout HRM, their priorities are the economy, jobs, health care and education," said the NDP leader, who was a Dartmouth councillor from 1994 to 1996.

"Those are what I think our citizens are focused on now."

In the 1990s, the Liberal government, led by the late John Savage, pitched amalgamation for two parts of the province — the Halifax and Sydney areas — as a way to streamline municipal services and administrations and save the province millions of dollars.

In 1996, Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford and Halifax County merged into what is now known as Halifax Regional Municipality. Opinions on its success are mixed.

One group, Citizens for Halifax, has been pushing for HRM to be split into two parts — urban and rural.

Don Mills, a former board member, said he’s all for the review, which he says is long overdue. He said the current structure doesn’t suit the needs of urban or rural residents.

"We have a municipality over 5,000 square miles, a municipality that is the largest in Canada, bigger than P.E.I.," he said. "Effectively what we have is a province within a province and as a result of that we’ve lost our city."

He said council is too big and the community interests are too diverse.

Mr. Mills, who is a pollster, said he thinks any politician who supports such a review will gain a lot of support from voters.

"This is supported both by people living in the old parts of the county and people living in the more urban parts of the municipality," he said. "There’s no part that is a losing proposition for a party that says, ‘Yeah, let’s take a look at this and if it makes sense, let’s do it.’ "

(herald.ca)