Town or municipality?: Province rejects proposal for Three Rivers name change

The mayor of the Town of Three Rivers says the province has rejected an application to change the name to the Municipality of Three Rivers.

Mayor Ed MacAulay said the decision was a "fair response."

"We're a town, officially, because of our population size," MacAulay said.

Several communities were amalgamated in 2018 to create the Town of Three Rivers, which encompasses the boundaries of Montague, Georgetown and Cardigan fire departments.

MacAulay said some people felt changing the name would be a better fit and would have still allowed the identities of the communities within the municipality.

But in a letter to Three River's CAO Jill Walsh, Fisheries and Communities Minister Jamie Fox said Three Rivers meets the population and property assessment thresholds for a town, and will legally remain the Town of Three Rivers. 

What's in a name?

In the letter to Walsh, Fox said the Town of Three Rivers must be used on all official documents.

"I understand that other municipalities use names other than the formal legal names in their communications and branding," the letter said.

"It is acceptable to use the Municipality of Three Rivers for all except formal documents."

MacAulay is taking the news in stride.

"I think it's important to some, but it's not important to everyone," he said.

"It will remain the Town of Three Rivers. But I guess unofficially, if people want to call it the municipality of Three Rivers there's no harm in that."

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