The District of Saanich is considering recommendations of its governance task force to call on the province to fund a citizens assembly on amalgamation.
Part of the discussion would include the issue of regional policing.
Shellie Gudgeon who is Co-Chair of Amalgamation Yes says she is heartened by Saanich's leadership on this issue. She believes in the smaller municipalities it may be more about ego than anything else when it comes to sharing police resources.
"I respect and admire Mayor Jensen and Mayor Dejardins and the mayors of the smaller regions. But when Mayor Jensen says no call to small, wouldn't the citizens and residents of Oak Bay be better served to have somebody from the municipality they could call that isn't a $100,000 a year (plus), police paid, salried police officer attending to those no calls too small."
Saanich, Victoria, Oak Bay and Central Saanich currently are the only municipalities who maintain their own police forces. All others in the captital region contract police services through the RCMP.