Rothesay and Quispamsis to Amalgamate?

All the talk of Rothesay and Quispamsis these days is around the “A” word - amalgamation. No, this isn’t the provincial government trying to create a super-Saint John again, this time two towns are looking at the possibility of merging into a new city!

The biggest pusher on the issue has been the Telegraph Journal. Just take a look at a few of their recent articles below:

• Amalgamation: It’s been a good thing
• Maloney: Amalgamation plebiscite the way to go
• By the numbers
• Kennebecasis city?
• One populous valley, one political voice
• How a valley merger could save Saint John

Not only has our newspaper taken up the story; but, CBC has even written about it here. The media seems to be in favour; however, what do I think? Let me explain.

I think it will go ahead (after having a vote by the citizens). It only makes sense when you look at how interconnected the two towns are. To quote the CBC story, “Currently, it is very much an invisible barrier that divides the two towns, with many residents having to navigate the other town’s streets just to get into their own subdivisions.” Their big budget items are already shared, everything left is small bits and pieces.

I also don’t think you will find many people who would be against an amalgamation. They stand to gain not only city status; but, they will become the fourth largest city in the province - behind only Saint John, Moncton, and Fredericton. The other bonus is that they can start to cut costs in areas where they currently duplicate services, such as the town councils!

From a Saint John perspective, I think that it would be positive. Competition will encourage us to become more efficient in our services, and it will really force city council have to deal with the tax rate to make sure it is closer to the neighbours. There is no reason we can’t reduce the tax rate and improve services - we just need a spark to start the fire - and this might be it.

Bring on the challenge, and we will prove that life is better inside the city of Saint John - fog and all!