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Antigonish consolidation iced by province

AARON BESWICK THE CHRONICLE HERALD abeswick@herald.ca @chronicleherald

The Department of Municipal Affairs will not introduce legislation to consolidate the Town of Antigonish and the County of Antigonish during the legislature's spring sitting.

“Earlier this afternoon at the request of (Municipal Affairs Minister John Lohr), Mayor Boucher and Warden Mccarron joined him and staff from Municipal Affairs,” reads an email sent to Antigonish town councillors at 4:34 p.m. Friday by chief administrative officer Jeff Lawrence.

“During that meeting, the minister stated the province has made the decision to not present the special legislation to the House of Assembly.”

Neither town Mayor Laurie Boucher nor county Warden Owen Mccarron could be reached for comment Sunday.

A spokeswoman for Municipal Affairs told The Chronicle Herald a statement would not be available until Monday.

The letter to Antigonish town council - which, like Antigonish county council, narrowly passed a motion last October to ask the provincial government to enact the legislation - didn’t provide any more detail.

“If more information becomes available, we will ensure it gets shared with council and staff," the letter from Lawrence says. "I will be in the office next week should anyone wish to discuss this further.

“This does not have a bearing on how we will continue to operate. The town and county will maintain the status quo and continue to work together on our joint initiatives for the benefit of the greater community.”

The mayor and warden had both told the Herald during previous interviews that staff at Municipal Affairs had assured them special legislation to consolidate the two municipalities would be forthcoming if they passed motions seeking it.

Opposition to the move proved to be quite strong.

A group called Let Antigonish Decide campaigned for the matter to be put to a plebiscite. The group held public meetings around the town and county, put up signs, collected signatures and launched a challenge in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, which will be heard in July.

A telephone poll commissioned by the group was performed by Mainstreet Research and found that 70 per cent of residents thought the matter should go to a public vote.

In the days leading up to

the spring sitting of the legislature beginning last week, the provincial government declined to say whether legislation would be coming.

“I think that’s accurate,” town councillor Sean Cameron said Sunday when asked whether he thought there was a tug of war going on between staff at the Department of Municipal Affairs and the Progressive Conservative government.”

Cameron voted against the motion to seek special legislation.

“I think it was smart of Premier Tim Houston and (Antigonish MLA Michelle Thompson) to listen to the people,” Cameron said.

“That’s all this group has been asking for.”

Anne-marie Long, a Let Antigonish Decide member and plaintiff in the court challenge, said Sunday her group is waiting on word as to whether the legislation is on ice permanently.

“If they don’t want to have a plebiscite, they should make it an issue during the 2024 municipal election,” Long said.

“Given the tenacity of the mayor and warden in terms of pushing this forward, I have no assurance they wouldn’t try to bring it back in the fall unless (Lohr) says no to the whole thing.”

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