Please read our TC Op-Ed on their website in the opinion section:
https://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comment-premier-eby-let-us-vote-on-amalgamation-12393775
Teaser:
Comment: Premier Eby, let us vote on amalgamation
The B.C. government has been silent about calls for a referendum on amalgamating Victoria and Saanich. What is taking so long?
Tuesday 9 June 2026
A commentary by Trevor Barry, the chair of Amalgamation Yes.
A lot has happened over the past year in politics — especially here in the provincial capital. And yet, one very important item with significant import to the future of our region has been neglected by our provincial government.
Without jumping to cynical conclusions about their motives or lack thereof, suffice it to say: At this point, our patience is running thin. Yours should be, too, because it’s about following through on money you spent, and about local citizens having a direct say in how (not just by whom) they are governed.
More than a year ago, the Victoria-Saanich Citizens’ Assembly, a $750,000 joint venture of the two major municipalities and the province, surprised many observers by announcing that their democratic deliberation process on governance review had yielded a super-majority consensus recommendation: Saanich and Victoria should merge. Their study “concluded that … becoming one unified city is the best form of [local] government” for both the people and their shared community. They strongly recommended full amalgamation, not simply integration.
Saanich and Victoria councils both debated the assembly’s final report and recommended a binding referendum on amalgamation be placed on the ballot during the Oct. 17 local elections.
And while countless other political decisions and communications have been made by the provincial cabinet, neither the premier, nor the minister, nor our local MLAs have uttered a word.
They have said nothing. Nothing about this critical issue to the citizens of our capital region.
And yet, for many months now, the B.C. minister for housing and municipal affairs has been in receipt of …
click link below to read the article online:
https://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comment-premier-eby-let-us-vote-on-amalgamation-12393775 <– click here
BONUS:
Trevor was interviewed by CFAX 1070 later that day.