Amalgamation 'quite possibly the answer' for eastern P.E.I. communities

Residents in seven communities in Kings County, P.E.I., will soon get an update on potential plans for amalgamation, says Georgetown Mayor Lewis Lavandier.

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A committee of representatives of the communities has been discussing the idea for two years, and Lavandier said the positives are outweighing the negatives.

There are a lot of people concerned about the loss of identity.- Lewis Lavandier

"The status quo is just not cutting it," Lavandier told CBC News.

"I'm not going to say that everybody on the councils are all in agreement, but they've changed considerably their outlook on how we went into this."

A final decision still hasn't been made, but Lavandier said there has been a lot of progress so far.

Looking for feedback

The residents of the seven communities — Georgetown, Montague, Lower Montague, Brudenell, Cardigan, Valleyfield and Lorne Valley — will be getting an update on the discussions soon. In the next week the committee will send out flyers and reach out on social media, looking for feedback.

"We want to address the concerns of the residents now and that's the next step," said Lavandier.

"There are a lot of people concerned about the loss of identity … We want to assure them we're looking into all these different aspects."

Lavandier said the smaller communities in the group are not sustainable on their own.

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