In many respects Saskatchewan dances to the beat of its own drummer. Depending on whom you ask, and what the particular issue is, that is a good or bad thing.
In some cases, though, it is just plain stubbornness. That is the case with amalgamation, without doubt one of the dirtiest words in the province.
Nevertheless, in the realm of health care, it is underway. Education is sure to follow, and once that happens, it can only be a matter of time before municipal amalgamation rears its ugly head again.
Premier Brad Wall has said the current government will not force, but may encourage municipalities to amalgamate.
If encouragement was all that was needed, municipalities would be merging all over the province for economic reasons. No, if we want this to happen it is going to take iron will from a provincial government. If not this one, then the next or the one after that.
The bottom line for the pro argument is economic. Efficiencies, economies of scale, access to expert administrative services etc.
The bottom line for the con argument is it didn’t work in Ontario.
That is debatable, though. Certainly, there are examples of mergers in that province that did not produce the cost-savings and other benefits promised, particularly in big cities.
There are plenty of other examples where it did work, however, particularly in remote and rural areas. The key here is balance. And, if we are going to use Ontario as a model, ensuring that we identify the analogous areas for lessons learned and disregard the irrelevant aspects.
Saskatchewan is, after all, not Ontario.
The Saskatchewan aversion to amalgamation is kind of ironic. In federal and provincial politics, at least in the last several decades, we are the land of small government, yet we are the most over-represented people in the country.
There are, according to a 2015 report by the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation, 781 local councils in Saskatchewan, more per capita than any other province. That is an average of one local council for every 1,300 people and includes Saskatoon and Regina, which obviously skew the ratio. When you take out those two cities numbers, it is 1:785.
In Ontario the ratio is 1:28,800.
Again, Saskatchewan is not Ontario, and geography alone suggests we probably do not want to aspire to their numbers, but it is time to take a hard look at our numbers because while they may have worked at one time, the world is a whole lot different in 2017 than it was in 1917.
There is a reason, for example, that our towns, many now dead and dying, are approximately 10 kilometres apart, because that is roughly the range of a horse and cart. We don’t have that issue any more.
I will give you one close-to-home example of where we might make a difference. The first is the Village of Abernethy and the R.M. of Abernethy, which I know a lot about because I was the administrator for the Village from 2008 to 2010. Combined, they have a population of 572 people, yet they both have their own council, their own administrator (part-time) and their own administrative building. Those buildings, by the way, are on the same street, kitty corner to each other.
With two mayors and 10 councillors between them, that is one political representative per 48 people.
In fact, even if you were to amalgamate the Village and R.M. of Abernethy with Balcarres and Katepwa the population would not even come close to breaking 2,000.
Of course, it is not entirely about population. Maybe Katepwa belongs with Fort Qu’Appelle. Maybe Abernethy belongs with Lemberg.
We won’t know until we stop seeing sacred cows when we look at Saskatchewan municipalities.
Step one is opening our minds to the possibilities.
