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The Lindsay Post is running a weekly series of questions, with answers by both the "Yes" and "No" sides of the issues.
Question #28:
Any final words?
Bruce Winchester of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Flamborough councillor Margaret McCarthy, firebrand newspaper publisher Jim Brown from Chatham-Kent, Toronto journalist Joe Cooper, former Westmount Quebec mayor Peter Trent, former Toronto mayor John Sewell, and the man who wrote the book on municipal amalgamations, professor Andrew Sancton, hammered home this point: forced amalgamations don't work.
They work in theory, of course, but we all live in the real world. Bigger is not better when it comes to municipal government. A sense of real community can only flourish when small communities are free to protect their identities.
If there is a final message that we on the "Yes" side want to deliver in our last kick at the can, it's these two points: first of all, the world won't end on November 10th if we vote "Yes". The process of de-amalgamation will proceed in a rational and orderly manner.
And next: don't believe those who tell you that we haven't given the CoKL enough time. That's what the people of Chatham-Kent, who have been amalgamated since 1997, were told and it only got worse, with mushrooming taxes, bureaucracy, consultants and debt.
If we buy the argument that we just need to tinker with our mega-city for a few more years to reap the benefits of amalgamation and the benefits never materialize, then what? We will never have another chance at de-amalgamation. This referendum is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We can't afford to let it slip through our fingers.
The Victoria County "Yes" Campaign thanks the Lindsay Daily Post for providing the platform over the past few months to try to make our points.
We thank those good people on the left side of the page and their helpers at City Hall for their efforts to convince you to vote "No". It has been a hoot jousting with you in print. We'll miss our weekly exchanges.
We thank the VOCO volunteers who have fought so hard for the past three years to bring about this referendum to give us all the opportunity to decide for ourselves.
And most of all, we thank the good folks of Victoria County into whose hands we deliver the final say on this issue.
Perhaps our reason for optimism is best illustrated by the following little episode: The Dunsford town-hall meeting last Saturday began with the skirl of bagpipes piping Queen Victoria down the aisle to the stage.
As one, the people in the audience rose to their feet and applauded. Did they really believe that Queen Victoria had arrived in their midst? Of course not. But they went along with the gag out of a sense of the occasion and a sense of fun.
Although the referendum is serious business, the people of Victoria County can laugh, can laugh at themselves when necessary, and can cut through the nonsense. The "Yes" campaign salutes you most of all.