MLA relays fear of being 'sucked into another community' under amalgamation

A government MLA stood in the P.E.I. Legislature Tuesday to pass on concerns from municipal leaders in his district about the province's plans for municipal amalgamation.

The provincial government believes the current count of 73 municipalities in the province is too high, and would like to see that reduced to as few as 10 or 20.

Backbench MLA Hal Perry told the legislature Tuesday local municipal leaders are coming to him with concerns, including that the new Municipal Government Act may force them to have to join together.

"Some of the regulations that are in there regarding the size of the new municipalities, and about the possibility of perhaps their community being basically sucked into another community that was nearby," said Perry.

"Their taxes might go up, so there's a lot of questions that they had."

Perry said municipalities are concerned about some of the requirements under the new act, including that they keep an office open for 20 hours a week, and hold full-day elections with their own election staff.

Communities Minister Robert Mitchell said government won't force any communities to amalgamate.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |Liberal candidate Bob Doiron in legal battle with Workers Compensation
• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |What about reducing MLA severance? Green leader asks