The Merger Question

It’s time to address the issues, not a Merger with Kitchener

Based on my 7 years of experience Council and research on the issue, I am against a merger with the City of Kitchener and believe in keeping Waterloo independent. History has shown that the expected benefits from mergers have not been realized. On my blog there is a list of articles about municipal mergers.  

In summary, mergers:

1) increase costs. It does not decrease them.

2) make government less responsive to the local citizens. A little friendly competition between the municipalities does wonders to make them accountable!

3) do not make a city globally successful.  Many cities and regions areas like Boston, Silicon Valley and Sydney are made up of many small municipalities. Some of the most successful regions are made up of fragmented local governments which have learned to cooperate with each other.

4) reduce diversity. Waterloo is different from Kitchener.  The two cities' policies and corporate culture are different in many ways including financial stewardship, public engagement, urban planning and design, development priorities, environmental sustainability, heritage and the arts, etc.  As a region, our strength is our diversity.

Instead, we should be identifying the problems, issues and opportunities that need to be addressed, evaluate the alternatives and then decide the best path forward. Voting no on the merger will enable us to look at options and come up with a made in Waterloo Region solution.