Thirty years after four municipalities were brought together to form the Halifax Regional Municipality, opinions on amalgamation remain varied and deeply personal.

On April 1, 1996, the former cities of Halifax and Dartmouth, the town of Bedford and the county of Halifax became the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM).

While some say the move did not bring the economic savings originally expected, and representing residents’ diverse needs remains a challenge, others believe planning and economic development as a region has been a success.

At the time, the Liberal provincial government under Premier John Savage forced the move through legislation, without a public vote or consultation from the municipalities.

Gloria McCluskey, Dartmouth’s last mayor and a former Dartmouth Centre HRM councillor, still calls it a mistake.

“That still festers in my mind. At my age, almost 95, you’d think I would let it go, but I can’t let it go,” McCluskey said.

She said Dartmouth would be in a better position had amalgamation not happened, especially in light of major development that she said is happening without proper infrastructure in place.

Current HRM Coun. David Hendsbee, who represents Lawrencetown-The Lakes-Chezzetcook-Eastern Shore, was originally against amalgamation. He was on county council at the time, and recalls anger and surprise when the bill was tabled in Province House.

“We ended up going down to the legislature that evening to express our disdain to the proposed legislation, but it fell on deaf ears,” Hendsbee said.

He said he has heard the argument that the county should have remained independent.

But he said the reality is the former county area does not have a large residential or commercial tax base. Business largely ended up in the suburban industrial parks, which would have “really made it difficult” for the county to stand on its own.

“[We’ve] all been brought together with a shotgun wedding, and we’re making the best of it,” Hendsbee said. 

But Andrew Sancton, a retired political science professor at Western University in London, Ont., who has studied amalgamations across Canada, said the move was a blow to local democracy.

In a municipality roughly the size of Prince Edward Island, Sancton said it is very difficult for 16 councillors and a mayor to properly represent the diverse needs of residents over more than 5,500 square kilometres.

“That whole idea of putting rural and urban together seems to me to contradict one of the reasons why we have local government in the first place,” Sancton said.

He said the original economic argument that amalgamation would save money did not happen, with transition costs running about $26 million and “no evidence” that the expected millions in annual savings have materialized. 

While Sancton said HRM’s rural areas might have benefited from not having to pay for road upkeep and other infrastructure by connecting to a dense urban tax base, he said amalgamation wasn’t needed to take that step.

He pointed to British Columbia’s southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands for the “ideal arrangement.” There, municipalities kept their independence and local councils, while the Capital Regional District is an organization delivering services across the entire area.

Nova Scotia Lt.-Gov. Mike Savage, who served as HRM mayor for more than a decade, said there is “no question” there was backlash around the lack of consultation on amalgamation. 

But Savage said his father, Premier John Savage, was not afraid to make a move if he was “convinced in his heart” that something was economically and morally the right thing to do.

“He’s different than a lot of politicians that way, probably a little bit different than the way that I might have done it years later. But I know he did it with the best of intentions, and it certainly has turned out to be a good thing for the region,” Savage said.

One benefit of amalgamation has been the ability to efficiently plan growth and services for the whole region, Savage said. He also said having one unit for businesses to deal with has been a good move for economic development, rather than having municipalities fighting over them.

Current HRM Mayor Andy Fillmore said there certainly have been growing pains, like when downtown Halifax hollowed out in the early 2000s as businesses left for industrial parks. 

But, he said “on net,” amalgamation allows efficient planning, which has been good for the region.

When it comes to local representation, Fillmore said the four community councils are important because they guide local development, and issues are raised there that flow up to regional council.

On the campaign trail in 2024, Fillmore said he found that amalgamation was still a live conversation in rural areas where people are frustrated that their levels of taxes exceed the level of services they get.

“And that can be a very rich conversation,” Fillmore said. “The big takeaway for me was that 30 years later, a generation later, this is still fresh, like it happened last week.”

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