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Municipal Affairs
March 31, 2009

The following statement was issued by the Honourable Dianne Whalen, Minister of Municipal Affairs. It was also read in the House of Assembly:

Government Continues to Invest in Regional Co-operation

I rise today to talk about our efforts to encourage regional cooperation, a key initiative in our department.

Creating sustainable municipalities is a critical issue. Many communities in rural areas are finding it a challenge to provide quality services to residents. Regional co-operation is a way of securing improved services � such as snow clearing, waste management, or fire services � by coming together.

This government has committed to increase regional co-operation initiatives and assess regional service delivery opportunities throughout the province.

We allocated $1 million in Budget 2008 to facilitate such co-operation initiatives and more than 18 groupings involving over 40 municipalities have expressed interest in exploring such ventures.

I am pleased to report that under Budget 2009/10, we will continue to promote regional co-operation in an effort to sustain our communities. We will again invest $1 million this year to eliminate barriers to regional co-operation, such as disproportionate debt loads, and to dedicate resources to facilitate discussions and negotiations.

I was extremely proud to be in attendance for the official amalgamation of the new town of Roddickton-Bide Arm in January. This successful merger has further ignited an interest throughout the province in co-operation ventures.

I commend the people of Roddickton and Bide Arm for taking the initiative to investigate and pursue the concept of regional co-operation. They wanted a better quality of life for the people of their communities and took the steps necessary to make it a reality.

The residents of Roddickton-Bide Arm will see many benefits from the merger. They will have a stronger local voice, less service duplication and greater economy of scale. Most importantly, they will have improved services particularly road upgrading and the expansion of older water and sewer systems.

And on the Avalon, we are assisting the communities of North River, South River, Clarke�s Beach, Cupids and Mackinsons to form a regional fire protection service.

Regional co-operation is indeed the way of the future. I encourage other municipalities to explore how they too could benefit from co-operating with their neighbors.

2009 03 31                                                2:00 p.m.
 


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