After decades of debate and a first appearance on the municipal ballot in 2014, Victoria and Saanich may be a step closer to amalgamation.
Over the last eight months, 46 residents from both municipalities spent countless hours deliberating on their future and finally made a decision.
At the July 14 council meeting, members of the Victoria-Saanich Citizens’ Assembly presented their final report to the district recommending amalgamation.
Among those presenting the report was Saanich resident Richard Mitchell, who initially believed amalgamation would lead to significant cost savings. When he realized that wouldn’t be the case, his support still stood for different reasons.
Mitchell saw the strongest case for amalgamation in combining fire and police services to have a coordinated emergency response and strengthen disaster preparedness.
“We share a moral responsibility to our emergency service providers,” said the former RCMP officer, originally from Saskatchewan. “We currently have a crisis and, as an outside observer, it appears that (Victoria is) being significantly overtaxed while (Saanich) attends to less stressful calls.”
Mitchell also felt the two municipalities had the responsibility to ensure residents on both sides of the border had equal access to services, especially in light of the ongoing opioid crisis.
Assembly member Brenna Atnikov, a Saanich resident who lives just four blocks from the municipal border, said her daily life is spent in both communities.
In her address to council, Atnikov said she remained undecided until the very end, when she ultimately voted in favour of amalgamation. She explained her decision by saying a merger would offer the best chance to tackle issues like climate change and to improve relationships with local First Nations.
“This was an opportunity to collectively lift our gaze from the immediacy of the day-to-day concerns and urgency… to a longer time horizon (and) really think about what is the future of this place,” she said. “What opportunities actually might pass us by if we don't take a bold decision to grapple with the future and think about the place we really can become if we were one?”
Saanich’s Adam Sherk, the only assembly member living on an active farm with his wife and two children, joined the process intent on protecting agricultural land. After weeks of deliberation, he voted for amalgamation, saying the assembly was convinced the merger would not affect large rural lands.
Out of 46 assembly members, 39 voted in favour of amalgamation, none supported maintaining the status quo, and seven preferred that the municipalities remain separate but explore deeper service integration.
Among the dissenters was David Hill, who opposed the merger, saying the report failed to present a clear, compelling case for amalgamation to address issues like inefficient service delivery, cost-sharing, inconsistent zoning and permitting, fragmented police and fire services, and transit planning.
“In our deliberations, we could not confirm that the merging of two incorporated municipalities into one would address most, if any, of these issues,” his statement read. “I feel that these issues could be addressed through active collaboration and cooperation between the municipalities.”
Welcoming the report, Coun. Susan Brice challenged a claim that amalgamation would improve public transit, noting that transit decisions are made by the Regional Transit Commission, outside the jurisdiction of both Saanich and Victoria councils.
Coun. Judy Brownoff cautioned about the hidden costs of this unification which could mean an increase in spending, property taxes, staffing and more, citing a report from the Fraser Institute.
“In most of the municipalities, they analyzed that the per-household municipal tax burden increased significantly,” she said. “They also found that spending on certain services and remuneration also increased.”
She added that amalgamation could become a liability for Saanich, which might end up being partly burdened for replacing Victoria’s aging infrastructure, some of which, she noted, is more than 100 years old.
“I see that as a debtload liability coming down pretty quick because there are no comments about how much longer it would last,” she said.
Farmer and Coun. Nathalie Chambers voiced her concerns at the thought of an amalgamated urban containment boundary, which “makes my blood boil,” worried that the fusion of the two cities might result in a loss of agricultural lands.
After expressing her concerns, Chambers concluded that she would work to ensure her constituents’ interests are protected.
“We do not want any more costs, we want no more tax increases, we want protection of our urban containment boundary, we want protection of our food security and our special places,” said Chambers. “So we're gonna be a rambunctious municipality in this process.”
Council is now expecting a municipal staff report on possible next steps.
Assembly chair Peter MacLeod told council that the report, which had a $750,000 budget – funded equally by Victoria, Saanich, and the province – remained within that limit.
The assembly recommended that Victoria and Saanich hold a referendum on amalgamation during the 2026 municipal election. If approved, the first election for the unified municipality would take place in 2030. They emphasized the importance of a timely process and respecting the referendum results.
“If residents support the amalgamation, it's still a ways off,” MacLeod told Saanich News back in April. “It's not something that's going to happen tomorrow. Residents of both communities may have the opportunity now, and during the referendum, to learn more [and] understand the benefits or disadvantages of amalgamation and hopefully have a chance to express themselves.”
For more information about the assembly, visit . All sessions and materials from the deliberation have been made available to the public on the website.
