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SPORTS: Uplands golfer inducted into hall /A3 NEWS: Meet your school trustee candidates /A10-12 ARTS: Eclectic Gallery hosts artist reception /A18&19
OAK BAYNEWS Wednesday, November 12, 2014
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École Willows choir students sing during the second of two Remembrance Day ceremonies held at the Oak Bay elementary school Monday. The students hosted special guests and heard from guest speaker Commander N o rd Mensah who reminded them: ‘Freedom is very expensive and it’s very fragile.’
Christine van Reeuwyk/News staff
Voters will have their say on amalgamation Christine van Reeuwyk News staff
Thanks to the efforts of a citizen group, amalgamation is on the ballot in eight of the 13 municipalities in the Capital Region. “We have no position on amalgamation. We’re just trying to take it to the next level rather than have local innuendo about why it’s such a bad thing,” said John Vickers, spokesperson for the Amalgamation Yes group that sought the non-binding referendum questions. “We’re simply trying to have a formal provincially run study to examine ways as to what
level of amalgamation might be best for the region. If we can’t have a study … how can we ever even get to talk about it?” In Oak Bay, Coun. John Herbert is wellknown for saying no one even knows what amalgamation means. Yet all of Oak Bay council reluctantly agreed to join the ranks of seven other municipalities to ask their residents about amalgamation this municipal election. Here the ballots will ask: Are you in favour of The District of Oak Bay being amalgamated into a larger regional municipality? “Are you OK for the whale to swallow you? That’s going to get a resounding
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‘no’,” said Dr. Janni Aragon, assistant teaching professor at the department of political science at the University of Victoria. “The fear is probably a loss in the quality of services and a fear in the loss of autonomy because Oak Bay is a hamlet.” Incumbent mayoral candidate Nils Jensen sees the question as straightshooting. “We wanted to be very direct with our residents, when you look around the other questions in the region they’re very fuzzy,” Jensen said. “We wanted to take it on much more straight forward so people knew what they were getting into.”
Vickers says Amalgamation Yes is less than happy with the Oak Bay wording. “We’re a little disappointed with the way it was presented. We have some work to do to make sure people know what the real message is and hope we’ll have a positive result,” Vickers said. “Any community that has a question is better than a community that doesn’t. My real beef has to do with to be so against it, without any opportunity for engagement. It gets very frustrating.” PlEASE SEE: Candidates oppose amalgamation, Page A5
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