Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston faced opposition in Antigonish on Tuesday night during an at times tense community meeting about potential plans for amalgamation.
Residents packed the room at the Heatherton Community Centre to voice their concerns about upcoming plans to amalgamate the town with the county.
Several said the process is moving too fast, with too little information.
“There’s no understanding as to why. Why consolidate to start with?” asked Terry Penny, a member of the group Let Antigonish Decide.
The group says it is neither for, nor against, amalgamation, but described the process so far as “undemocratic.”
“The best that we’ve heard is that the town and the county get along right now, so it’s a good time to do it,” Penny said. “Hardly seems a good basis to consolidate communities.”
In January, both town and county councils voted to proceed with their intention to dissolve the town under a consolidation that would adopt the county’s name.
And last month, the province’s law amendments committee returned a bill that would allow the contentious merger to go through, without changes.
Two councillors who voted against the legislation spoke up during Tuesday night’s meeting, saying councillors didn’t have enough information to have an informed vote.
“People deserve a chance to have their say. And they’re not going to get a chance to have their say,” said Antigonish county councillor John Dunbar. “You’re sticking to your guns … which means after this is all over, after it’s finished, only then can people have a say.”
Dunbar, along with Antigonish town councillor Sean Cameron, said the councils felt influenced to quickly move forward with the vote by the province’s Department of Municipal Affairs. But Houston defended the amalgamation plan.
“Why have an elected council then? If you’re not going to respect what the votes that they make, then why even have one?” he said. “The elected councils make a vote, we respect that, we listen to them and we try to move forward.”
A review process is underway to look at whether it’s in the best financial interests of the town and county to amalgamate. That decision is due by Aug. 1.
In a statement, the town of Antigonish said the mayor would not be doing any interviews as the Antigonish Consolidation Act continues through the legislative process.
Let Antigonish Decide is calling for the decision to be paused until after the October election.
— with files from Alex Cooke