Ought to the Vancouver Island cities of Victoria and Saanich amalgamate?
It’s a query that may doubtless be on the poll for voters throughout the 2026 municipal election. That’s after a residents’ meeting formally advisable the merger following eight months of research and dozens of hours of deliberation.
“They weighed a lot of issues, a lot of completely different points – however finally, had been persuaded that the 2 communities may very well be stronger collectively as a result of amalgamation would enable them to plan for the long run,” stated Peter MacLeod, chair of the Victoria Saanich Residents Meeting on Municipal Amalgamation.

There are 13 municipalities within the Capital Regional District, and locals have informally debated the potential deserves of merging a few of them for many years.
Within the case of Victoria and Saanich, that debate turned much more severe after voters of each municipalities in a 2018 referendum gave the inexperienced gentle for a residents’ meeting to really contemplate the concept. Forty-eight residents had been chosen by means of an arms size course of to return collectively, analysis, and deliberate the idea.
The meeting’s report will probably be launched subsequent month, however MacLeod stated the meeting decided the merger would enable the communities to harmonize zoning bylaws and rules and give you a extra coordinated strategy to issues like transportation and infrastructure planning.

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“In the end I believe most of the members of the meeting realized that over the course of their on a regular basis lives they moved forwards and backwards between the communities typically with out even excited about it, and if that was the case, possibly it made sense to sooner or later come collectively as one group and plan for the long run collectively,” MacLeod stated.
Victoria, with a inhabitants of about 92,000 and Saanich, with a inhabitants of about 126,000 are “peer communities,” he added, that means it could be a merger of equals reasonably than one swallowing the opposite.

Saanich Mayor Dean Murdock stated it’ll finally be as much as residents to determine whether or not to maneuver ahead, and that he’s trying ahead to finding out the report.
“I’ll need to understand how the residents meeting got here to the advice and whether it is finally in the most effective pursuits of individuals in Saanich and their households if that is the path we’re going to transfer in,” he stated.
“I’m certain there will definitely be quite a lot of questions and solutions to return over the subsequent a number of months.”
Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto stated she was glad that the meeting had give you a transparent suggestion.
She stated council had already dedicated to placing the meeting’s suggestion earlier than voters.
“I actually am trying ahead to studying the element of how they reached the conclusion as a result of it was a little bit of a shock, I’ve to say,” she stated.
“Is that this lastly going to occur? I suppose to a sure extent that’s as much as the individuals of Victoria and Saanich.”

Transferring ahead with a merger would additionally require a inexperienced gentle from the provincial authorities, however Minister of Municipal Affairs Ravi Kahlon stated the province wouldn’t stand in the way in which.
However this could all depend upon Saanich and Victoria to research the studies and have interaction with their residents about what they need to do,” Kahlon stated.
“If that is one thing they need to can we definitely would contemplate it.”
Whereas the meeting’s conclusion is a step ahead in the direction of the potential of amalgamation, MacLeod confused there have been many steps remaining.
The earliest the concept may very well be put to voters could be in October 2026.
If a majority of voters in each cities gave the concept the inexperienced gentle, voters would then elect the primary amalgamated metropolis council in 2030.
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