Amalagawhat?

I guess it must be a sign of the times as I mentioned in a previous post. Yet another municipality talking amalgamation despite the fact that it is still avery touchy subject.

Bishop's Falls Mayor, Jody Fancey is quoted as saying that a merger between Bishop's Falls and the larger Grand Falls - Windsor could happen with the help of the Provincial Government. Mayor Fancey is well aware of the work of the CCRC as she has been on the Advisory Committee for 2 years and she is also aware that as I have mentioned the current trend toward amalgamations is driven by necessity and is not likely to change anytime soon. The other factor in play here is that the province currently has an appetite to throw some money at these mergers ( $3million + for Roddickton-Bide Arm) but that's not likely to continue forever.

The basic fact remains that we have 281 municipalities and about 500,000 people. Just over 75% of those have less then 1000 people and many have less then 100. From an administrative standpoint that doesn't make a lot of sense. It really time we started examining different forms of local government, whatever they might be because what we currently have just isn't sustainable.

This also in from our Media Monitoring service:

TOWNS LOOK FOR AMALGAMATION: Roddickton and Bide Arm did it, Port aux Choix, Port Saunders and Hawk' s Bay are looking seriously at it. Now three more towns on the Northern Peninsula are considering amalgamation. ["Steve Kerry", Mayor of Daniel's Harbour; Brenda Biggin(sp?)", Mayor of Parson's Pond; "Gerry Bennett", Mayor of St. Paul's]
AIRED: 07:21 AM DURATION: 09:00 REPORTER: DOROTHY KING/BRIAN MCHUGH

That makes nearly half a dozen locations discussing the a-word!

Latest news: Celebrations and Conservation

Up first coming in via email is a note about Earth Hour in 2009:

MEMBERS’ ADVISORY

LIGHTS OUT ACROSS CANADA FOR EARTH HOUR
MARCH 28, 2009

Cities and communities in more than 70 countries will be flicking off their lights on March 28, 2009, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. (local time) to mark Earth Hour and show support for action on climate change. FCM, in partnership with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Canada, is asking your municipality to sign up, participate and engage your community in celebrating your sustainability efforts.

Municipalities across Canada are playing a lead role in combating climate change through public transit, waste management, energy efficiency, conservation and renewable energy. This year, Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax are official partners in Earth Hour and WWF-Canada is hoping, with the help of FCM, to outstrip last year’s participation of 150 Canadian communities.

Earth Hour is an opportunity to position municipalities as key partners and solution providers in addressing Canada’s action on climate change. It also positions Canadian municipalities as leaders in the fight against climate change in advance of world leaders meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009 to negotiate a new global deal on climate change once the Kyoto Protocol expires.

How your community can get involved:

Ensure there is the mayor’s or council’s support for Earth Hour and commit to turn off all the lights in city-controlled buildings (mindful of safety lighting).
Let WWF-Canada know you are participating by emailing earthhour@wwfcanada.org and asking for a tool kit to help you organize your efforts.
Promote Earth Hour using internal and external communication channels to get as many people involved as possible and registering at EarthHourCanada.org .

Earth Hour provides local governments with a vehicle to showcase to Canadians and the federal government the important role that municipalities play in mitigating and adapting to climate change. We hope that you can join with communities and people around the world in turning out the lights on March 28 at 8:30 p.m.
For further information contact: Cynthia Paulus, WWF Campaign Coordinator, Earth Hour 2009, cpaulus@wwfcanada.org or Shannon Watt, FCM Policy and Research Analyst, at swatt@fcm.ca.

Next is news from the Cupids 400th Anniversary Celebrations. Check out their website here for opportunities to submit proposals to somehow take part in the celebrations.

Sign o' the Times?

Check out the VOCM news story on a possible new municipal merger here. And the press release from the Department of Municipal Affairs here.

Is it a sign of things to come? Who's to say but this makes 4 mergers that are being discussed or have been successful in the past 6 months or so.

NEARP!

Or NEAR Plan if you prefer. This is the Northeast Avalon Regional Plan referred to in today's press release from the Department of Municipal Affairs found here.

Regional planning is a huge step in the right direction for the province and that's especially so for the "capital area" where the cities and towns are so interconnected in terms of traffic flows and infrastructure. It's also good to see the province putting half the cash into this project at $250,000. If we could get this type of initiative moving in other areas of the province it could go a long way toward addressing both the serious lack of planing capacity and the dire need for more integrated land use planning pretty much everywhere in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Lets hope this is just the first of many regional planing initiatives funded by the province.