The following is the third in a four-part series taking a look back at the amalgamation of Victoria County into the City of Kawartha Lakes 25 years ago.

As soon as Harry’s intentions became clear, a well-organized opposition coalesced, backed by elected officials of some of the municipalities and many others who played a prominent role in local affairs.

Amalgamation was more popular in Lindsay and vehemently opposed in some of the surrounding communities.

“It was so anti-democratic to dictate that we would no longer have town councils,” explained Anne Panter who, along with husband John, was instrumental in the creation of the Voices of Central Ontario (VOCO). “The existing villages had been working well. Sturgeon Point didn’t even have to pay their councillors. All the councils consisted of people who were really engaged, they were doing it for their communities. The local councils were really important to day-to-day life.

“For the province to come in and decide to get rid of all those volunteers was deeply offensive to a lot of people.”

Former Fenelon Township Reeve Faye McGee noted residents didn’t shy away from voicing their concerns. Council meetings saw between 10 and 70 people in attendance, while public meetings often attracted 300 to 400 people. Many of the advertisements included a coffin for democracy, implying the death of democracy that came with amalgamation. VOCO began holding its own unofficial referendums.

John Panter and Lynne Bildt were more than happy to bring the ‘death of democracy’ to Queen’s Park in response to what they saw as a forced amalgamation.

After much lobbying, Chris Hodgson — then the minister of municipal affairs, as well as the local MPP — proposed a minister’s question for the 2003 municipal election. As a minister’s question, it was not a referendum and it was not legally binding, although many people took it as such.

Since there would be a provincial election before the local vote would happen, VOCO leaders recalled reaching out to the leader of the opposition, Dalton McGuinty, who provided “a letter to the effect that they would respect the results of the referendum,” John Panter recalls.

“We were elated. We had been pushing for a referendum for a long time, and now we had something to work towards,” said Panter.

“I said at council that it was unfair to put that on the election ballot as a question,” former Bobcaygeon-Verulam councillor Pat Warren — who currently represents Ward 2 — recalls being at council with Hodgson when it was announced.

“I remember thinking it is going to really divide people …. I thought it would be very difficult to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Everything was already reallocated and three years had passed,” noted Warren. “What people don’t understand is that a municipality exists at the pleasure of the province … and there was no way that the province was going to allow us to go backwards.”

The results of the vote were tabulated by the wards of the City of Kawartha Lakes.

In total, 16,802 people voted YES to de-amalgamate, while 15,918 chose NO — 51.4 per cent to 48.6 per cent. The four wards that contained Lindsay voted strongly (68 per cent) to keep the City of Kawartha Lakes. The rest of the former Victoria County favoured de-amalgamation (58 per cent). The only mayoral candidate running on a de-amalgamation platform, Barbara Kelly, was elected after VOCO helped with her campaign.

Panter was at Lindsay Town Hall when the ballots were counted. The outgoing mayor, Art Truax, was also there, and as the results came in, he said, “’well, I guess that is that,’” Panter recalls.

In that moment, there was a sense that something big had just happened.

“I was quite elated, got in my car and drove home,” added Panter.

Hodgson observed that had he “stayed around,” he would have “implemented the will of the referendum, but the McGuinty Government ignored that, which may have been a good thing in the long run.”

Opposition to the amalgamation of Victoria County into the City of Kawartha Lakes hit the road visiting both Queen’s Park in Toronto and Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

At the time of the vote, Hodgson had retired from politics and the Liberals held the province. John Gerretsen, the incoming minister of municipal affairs, would only commit to meeting with Kelly and listening to her concerns.

Ignoring the result was seen as “the path of least resistance,” noted Panter.

“There is always an excuse to do nothing, but sometimes it takes courage and integrity to do the right thing. Looking the other way was the easy way out. There would have been expense in de-amalgamating,” Panter remembers. “After we won, I was talking to Fred Brecht. He had been a reeve before amalgamation, and I asked him what we should do, whether we should send a letter to the government, asking them to respect the results.

“He replied, ‘Let’s not assume they are going to do the wrong thing. Let’s assume they are going to do the right thing.’ I still regret that we did not push the issue more in the days after the vote. After a while, it became clear they were not going to do anything, so the issue was left to wither and die on the vine.

“I can just imagine the cabinet saying that if we de-amalgamate them, then other municipalities are going to want to de-amalgamate too, so let’s just forget the whole thing, and that’s what they did.”

A funeral for democracy

Once it had become clear the results of the referendum were not going to be respected, VOCO took up the cause of making sure the province could not just look the other way and fail to notice the results of the vote. They started a postcard campaign with their new slogan, “Here Lies McGuinty,” but they are best remembered for the red casket.

VOCO took a coffin to an auto body shop and had it painted bright, Liberal red. One side was emblazoned “Here Lies McGuinty,” another “RIP Democracy.” They took the casket on the road, visiting many MPP offices, including Laurie Scott, Jeff Leal and, of course, McGuinty. They also took the casket to Queen’s Park and Parliament Hill. Some members of parliament would come out and politely listen to them, others did not. At Queen’s Park, Panter and Lynne Boldt were allowed to hold a news conference from one of the rooms at the legislature.

In the end, the amalgamation debate proved anticlimactic.

After she was elected, Kelly proved not to be the supporter VOCO had hoped as they helped her election campaign, so VOCO protested at city hall too. Before council met, they would stand out front and sing, “The old grey mare, she ain’t what she used to be.”

“It got the point across … you have to have a bit of humour,” Panter recounts.

© Peterborough Examiner