Amalgamation

[MidTowner]

The needs and the wants of all 7 communities in the region are so different I can't see how it could go smoothly. There's already enough grief in this region when Kitchener or Waterloo gets selected for something over Cambridge (such as the new courthouse, for example, or the GO Train). People from Cambridge already think that anyone north of the 401 are shady. And one reason why they'd not build the sports complex anywhere near Kitchener. As for people from Waterloo, they're a prideful bunch that want little association with 'those people' from Cambridge or Kitchener. As for Kitchener, it has a general belief that since it's by far the largest city in this group, that everything should wind up in Kitchener, no matter what it is.

This area isn't like Toronto: Very few people ever paid attention to the other cities in "Metro Toronto". It was Toronto for most people. As for Hamilton, Hamilton was, by far, the largest and most central city in the old Hamilton-Wentworth region, and it easily absorbed the other towns; that said, Dundas is still Dundas, same with Ancaster and Stoney Creek and the smaller villages.

With 3 local Conservative MPP's, none from areas that really want this amalgamation, they'll all get an earful regarding this idea.

For that reason, I do believe that this is going to end up DOA.

What you say in the second paragraph is not really correct. Old Toronto, North York and Scarborough were not far apart in terms of population, for instance (and it was North York's mayor that defeated Toronto's, not the other way around, for the first mayoralty of the megacity). All the municipalities had all been subject to the the same regional government for almost fifty years but, like you say about the different communities of Waterloo, they all still had unique identities.

To say "very few people ever paid attention to the other cities in 'Metro Toronto'" is about as valid as an outsider saying "when you drive from Cambridge to Waterloo, you don't even notice when you've left one municipality and entered another."

The challenges are not insurmountable or very different from those faced by municipalities elsewhere that amalgamate. It can be done.