By Kirsten Goodnough and Valerie Cross
If councillors were teachers, they wouldn’t give amalgamation an A+, but few would flunk it either.
In the survey, councilors were asked to give a grade to 12 questions. Shawn Little, Doug Thompson, Madeleine Meilleur, Gord Hunter, Alex Cullen, Alex Munter, Janet Stavinga, and Elisabeth Arnold returned their surveys.
Diane Deans does not fill out surveys. The others did not reply.
Councillors were asked to give each amalgamation category an A (excellent), B (good), C (OK), D (needs improvement), or F (de-amalgamate).
Do people accept the single-city concept? “For a lot of people in Ottawa, figuring out which level of government did what could get very confusing. A single city has made it a lot easier,” said Munter.
Hunter disagreed. “D. I see you people don’t get out of Centretown very much.”
Thompson of rural Osgoode gave the single-city concept a C. Average grade: B.
Are rural, suburban, and urban wards “getting their money’s worth from amalgamation?” Thompson did not think his community has benefited at all. Grade F.
Alternately, urban representative Meilleur and suburban representative Munter felt rural services deserve an A. Average grade: C+.
Grades improved when councillors were asked if urban communities are “getting their money’s worth.” Average grade: B-.
Councillors felt suburban communities get an average grade of B.
Has amalgamation of emergency and fire services increased the safety of constituents? These grades ranged from A to C. Said Cullen, “This is one area that has been successful, despite recent controversies in the Fire Department.” Stavinga said she was pleased that the volunteer fire department had been maintained in Goulbourn. Average grade: B+.
The goal of the single city was to save money. Single-city architect Glen Shortliffe promised more for less. Arnold believes we’re getting “less for less,” and gave the city’s performance in meeting this goal a D. Munter gave it an A, noting this year’s 10 per cent property tax cut would not have been possible without amalgamation.
Stavinga said, “Of course there are savings for the city as a whole. Within the city the financial benefits of amalgamation vary significantly from one community to another.” Average grade: B-.
Shortliffe also called for better services, but services cost money. Said Arnold: “There is still much work to be done. Budget pressures and lack of federal and provincial support makes this goal harder to achieve.” She gave services a D. So did Thompson. Cullen’s grade was B. Average grade: C+.