Looking at wildfire spread
Giant inflatable groundhog
2 couples lose life savings
Pat King sentencing soon
Smith to spend 5 days in DC
Meteorite strike on video
US accuses Walgreen
Menendez hearing pushed 
Impeached president called
TikTok says it will 'go dark'
Users flood to RedNote
BMO leaves green alliance
Royals wallop Blazers
Rockets fall in OT
Special night for Chiefs
Reynolds buys into team
Busta Rhymes accused
Sandwiches to fire victims
Shelved by the pandemic, plans for the creation of a citizens’ assembly to explore amalgamting Victoria and Saanich have been dusted off, and the first step in creating the body could happen later this year.
A committee made up of Victoria and Saanich councillors, including both mayors, met this week to discuss the next steps in a process that will eventually see a consultant hired to guide the assembly.
The consultant will initiate a civic lottery that will randomly select the 48 members of the assembly — 27 from Saanich and 21 from Victoria.
Saanich Mayor Dean Murdock said he’s keen to get the process underway because the assembly could explore opportunities for better service co-ordination between the municipalities.
“It may be the assembly comes up with recommendations on specific types of services that would be better delivered through a single-service model or by better co-ordination between service providers,” he said. “I think those are the kinds of efficiencies and discussion that is overdue in this region. I think that we would all benefit from that, whether or not we support full amalgamation.”
In 2018, voters in both municipalities agreed to explore the costs, benefits and disadvantages of the amalgamation of Victoria and Saanich.
But after both municipalities settled on terms of reference in 2019 and 2020, the initiative stalled during the pandemic.
It got new life last spring when Victoria, Saanich and the province agreed to split the $750,000 cost of establishing it.
The 48 members selected by civic lottery are expected to reflect the population of the two municipalities, with an equal proportion of men and women and proportionate numbers of renters and homeowners, urban and rural residents, and members of First Nations. The assembly’s recommendations will not be binding for the councils, and could include anything from the status quo to full amalgamation, or harmonizing services such as police and fire.
