Viable municipalities

Opinion letter by Bruce MacDougall, FPEIM President, published in The Guardian on January 17, 2018.

The 72 municipalities in PEI only cover 30 percent of the province and one in three municipalities has an area of less than five square kilometres. The boundaries of many municipalities are based on school districts from the 1800s.  These boundaries wouldn’t work as school district boundaries today, and they don’t work as municipal government boundaries.  This outdated system has left local communities with limited capacity to address local challenges and pursue local opportunities.

We must appreciate and make the most of the many strengths of communities across Prince Edward Island.  At the same time, we need to recognize and address weaknesses that make it difficult to tackle the challenges of today and the future. For example, the declining and ageing population in the eastern and western parts of our province is a concern, but most small communities lack the capacity to work on local solutions.

Read the full letter here.