Municipality of Pictou County Warden Ronnie Baillie told residents that, ultimately, the decision is theirs.
Approximately 45 residents gathered in the Alma Fire Hall to hear the latest developments and voice their concerns.
One of those concerns came from Alan English of Braeshore, who questioned whether areas with larger populations would outweigh the voice of rural areas because of representation, using other amalgamated regions in the province as examples.
“We’ll end up with, say, New Glasgow controlling what happens in Pictou.”
Baillie acknowledged that in Halifax Regional Municipality and Cape Breton Regional Municipality that the population was in the cities, but stated that’s not the case here.
“No matter what scenario you want to look at, the number of councillors, it’s always going to be at least 50 per cent in the rural areas.”
Another concern was whether the province would actually approve a new municipal unit without Trenton and Westville.
Baillie said there’s a possibility they could force the new municipal unit to take on the other two towns, but that he doesn’t think they would. He noted that if they were to dissolve, they would automatically join the new municipality.
One resident took the opportunity to applaud their efforts and the large turnout.
“I think it’s an excellent start to it, and I think we should be short-sighted if we didn’t consider that it’s a long process, but it’s a worthwhile process. And the end of the day, it’s the people of Pictou County. It’s not the people of Halifax. I don’t think that should be in the equation… it’s the people of Pictou County that will make the decision,” said Robert Ferguson.
The decision process was questioned, and what the threshold would be in the plebiscite.
Baillie said 50 per cent plus one would be the vote, but said it would ultimately be up to the Utility and Review Board.
When asked about whether where the votes were coming from would be a consideration, Baillie argued that the rural areas have more potential voters, though a resident questioned whether voter turnout would be as high.
It led into discussion about a lack of awareness from rural residents, with those at the meeting stating that they didn’t think there was enough advertisement of meetings and the progress.
Baillie directed them to the One Pictou County (www.onepictoucounty.ca) website and their social media pages as good sources for the next meeting or other questions.
On Twitter: @NGNewsAmanda
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Timeline
Current: Public sessions, research
Fall 2015: Steering Committee gets public input on research
Fall 2015: Steering Committee tables report
Spring 2016: Council approves
Spring 2016: Public consulted & plebiscite
Spring 2016: Municipal units file joint application for merger
Summer/Fall 2016: Province processes application
April 2017: New municipal unit
